Predictably, the press has had a mixed reaction to the news that Carol Bartz will replace Jerry Yang as Yahoo CEO. The Financial Timesdismissed Bartz as a "safe but uninspired" choice, while Reuters noted that the new Yahoo CEO "lacks Web and deal-making chops." Bloggers Om Malik and Henry Blodget were more sanguine about the former Autodesk CEO. Malik lists seven reasons why he thinks she will succeed, citing the great turnaround she orchestrated at Autodesk and her successful bout with breast cancer, among other things. Blodget notes the same positives. "The …

Indeed, now that Yahoo has named former Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz as its new CEO, Kara Swisher says it's only a matter of time before a search partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft is finalized. Such a deal has been in the works for some time now, but one source that has spoken to Microsoft execs recently, claims it's now "ticked and tied" and that a deal could be signed as soon as Yahoo's earnings report on Jan. 27. Said another Microsoft source: "We've just been waiting for management clarity to move." Swisher doesn't have any further details, but she surmises …

Carol Bartz, who took the job as Yahoo CEO yesterday, "won't get much of a honeymoon" with Yahoo's investors, claims Bloomberg News. Shareholders are angry that the company is trading at $12 when Microsoft swooped in a year ago with an offer at $31 per share. They either want Bartz to rekindle talks with Microsoft or possibly sell off assets--in short, anything that earns them a quick return. The sale of Yahoo Search to Microsoft is the most probable scenario. Last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said he's still open to such a partnership. Meanwhile, hedge-fund investors, which own 20% …

AOL, which like Yahoo is in a never-ending quest to reinvent itself, announced today that it's forming two new divisions. One, called People Networks, will focus on the Time Warner company's social media properties, while the other, called MediaGlow, encompasses AOL's network of 70 niche content sites. According to MediaGlow President Bill Wilson, the network will soon grow to over 100 sites. "We're not counting on our portal to drive traffic," Wilson told Mediaweek. "That's such a difference from where we sat three years ago...we're really leaning into the fragmentation of the Web very aggressively. Clearly we are doubling down …

The Wall Street Journal reports that President-elect Barack Obama intends to nominate Julius Genachowski to head the Federal Communications Commission, the federal organization that governs all media. Genachowski is a former Harvard Law School classmate of Obama's, who previously worked at the FCC during the Clinton administration. After his first stint at the FCC, Genachowski worked at Barry Diller's Internet conglomerate IAC/InterActive Corp. More recently, he co-founded the D.C.-based venture capital firm LaunchBox Digital. Genachowski also worked as Obama's top technology advisor during the Presidential campaign, where he "expressed support for open Internet or 'net neutrality' protections; media-ownership rules that …

A major source of frustration for financial analysts covering Google is the fact that the search giant issues no forward-looking guidance. As a result, analysts' expectations for the stock can vary widely. The gigantic question mark in the company's recent fourth quarter performance is whether demand for search advertising increased, and by how much. According to data from AdGooroo, a Chicago-based search research firm, Google led its competitors during the fourth quarter with 58% growth in the average number of ads it showed per keyword on the first search results page (4.01 keywords in Q4 vs. 2.54 in Q3). In …

Increasingly, users are choosing mobile SMS payments to make micro transactions on social networking and gaming sites, but sky-high transaction fees are curtailing growth, says TechCrunch's Michael Arrington. Part of the problem is that carriers are making so much money on scams that give users a "free" ringtone when the fine print actually mentions a monthly charge--the carriers make close to 50% of the fee--that they see little incentive to change things for the better. To foster a market of legitimate transactions, those fees need to drop dramatically, Arrington says, adding that the social nets themselves should get directly involved …