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Bartz Slams Yahoo, Comments Clash With Her Contract
- by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, September 9, 2011
True to form, Yahoo's just-axed chief exec Carol Bartz isn't going quietly into the night -- and, as such, is threatening to do even more damage to the company. In emails and an interview with Fortune this week, Bartz called fellow Yahoo board members "doofuses," adding that they all "f---ed [her] over."
In a follow-up story, Fortune writes, "The language isn't surprising to anyone who has followed Bartz's career. But even colorful CEOs usually keep such thoughts to themselves in the days after termination, largely to protect lucrative payment packages that come with non-disparagement clauses attached."
On that last point, a source tells Fortune that Bartz did indeed have a nondisparagement clause in her employment contract, on which there is still around $10 million outstanding. Did she just violate it with her comments? It looks that way, doesn't it?
"Given Bartz's colorful history of offensive -- and often profane -- public remarks, it would make perfect sense for Yahoo to add a nondisparagement clause to her contract," VentureBeat writes. "The only question that remains is whether Bartz actually violated that clause with her comments earlier in the week."
More than name-calling, "Bartz claimed [this week] that it was the board's actions that landed the company in the situation it's in today: hemorrhaging ad dollars," writes Vator News. That means, at least in Bartz's potentially bitter view, that her removal won't fix anything, and that Yahoo is worse off than ever.
Partly as a result, Bartz just made ReadWriteWeb's list of worst tech CEOs. As it writes: "If only Bartz had been as decisive and commanding in making the right changes at Yahoo as she was in [onetime telling off TechCrunch founder] Michael Arrington, Yahoo might be in much better shape today."
Oh, and in case you're wondering, Bartz reportedly intends to remain on the board of directors of Yahoo, because she wants "to make sure that the employees don't believe that I've abandoned them." It's a nice sentiment, but, as Mashable writes: "Bartz ... doesn't get to decide whether she remains on Yahoo's board. That's up to the shareholders. She certainly isn't likely to find many allies on Yahoo's board of directors."
Gavin O'Malley edits MediaPost's Mobile Marketing Daily and MoBlog column. Follow him: @mp_gavin. You can reach Gavin at gavin@mediapost.com.
If Bartz did jeopardize her payment, all I can say is that it must be nice to be in the position of throwing away 10 million dollars. If it proves to mean so little to her, she could have considered keeping quiet, collecting the money, and donating it to charity. At least something positive would have come out of all this on several fronts. Certainly would have helped her image.