• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, February 27, 2009

Yahoo on Thursday announced the departure of its Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen in the form of a blog post written by CEO Carol Bartz.

The unorthodox move, which was accompanied by an email to employees, led some analysts to speculate that there is more news to come from the beleaguered Internet company.

"We expect more significant restructurings and divestitures of various businesses will occur in the future as (Yahoo) focuses on its core businesses," wrote UBS analyst Ben Schachter in a research note on Thursday. "Also, while the timing is uncertain, we still believe a search deal with (Microsoft) is likely."

For the record, Schachter wrote, Yahoo "unequivocally" denied that Jorgensen's departure had anything to do with his admission at an investor conference on Wednesday that Yahoo was open to a search deal with Microsoft.

Said Bartz in her email to employees: "There's been a lot of speculation in the media over the past few days ... that's been a little frustrating, but I'm not willing to speak publicly about decisions before they're final," adding, "Today, they are."

As such, the company has combined its tech and product groups under one roof, which will be led by Ari Balogh as EVP of products and chief technology officer. "Ari's direct reports now include one leader for each product group," wrote Bartz.

The company's mobile-centric Connected Life team has been integrated into various parts of the new organization, while its leader of four years, Marco Boerries, has resigned from the company.

The regional focus of Yahoo is now twofold between North America and international. The regions deliver Yahoo's products, programming and services to consumers, partners and advertisers in local markets. "They will partner closely with the newly formed regional solutions & products group in Ari's organization," Bartz explained.

Elisa Steele, meanwhile, has been appointed as Yahoo's new chief marketing officer, effective March 23. Steele most recently served as SVP of corporate marketing at data management solutions provider NetApp.

Reporting to Steele will be brand marketing, audience marketing, corporate communications, insights, policy and privacy, community affairs and related central teams.

Additionally, Bartz said the company is now actively seeking an executive to oversee customer care and ad operations globally.

New to Yahoo is a service engineering and operations team, which will be responsible for delivering common technology services at scale, including application management and infrastructure. Leading this organization is David Dibble, who joined Yahoo in December. Dibble's team will also be accountable for delivering more effective corporate IT systems.

Jorgensen, meanwhile, is expected to remain at Yahoo through a transition period.

"Our intention is to leave this structure in place for two to four years," Bartz wrote to employees. "I know you guys have reorg fatigue. Hang in there."