Google Inc plans to let its cash “pile up” as it weathers an economic recession but doesn’t expect to see a fall in revenue, the Web search leader’s Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Wednesday. (more…)

Brand-new Chief Executive Carol Bartz deserves exactly zero blame or credit for the fourth-quarter financial results Yahoo will announce Tuesday afternoon, but the judgment of her abilities will begin in earnest when she bears the Internet pioneer’s tidings.

That’s because Bartz so far has spent only 20 minutes on the phone with analysts as Yahoo’s CEO, much of that spent setting a straight-talking, no-nonsense tone while avoiding any real discussion of Yahoo’s position. The post-earnings call will be her opportunity to share her first assessment of the company and any plans she has for it. (more…)

With a new chief executive chosen from well outside its decaying orbit, Yahoo (YHOO) now has one last chance to salvage itself from a slow spiral into irrelevance. On Jan. 13, the struggling Internet icon appointed Carol Bartz, the executive chairman and former CEO of computer design software firm Autodesk (ADSK), to succeed co-founder Jerry Yang at Yahoo’s helm. (more…)

Yahoo Inc’s (YHOO.O) new CEO is a straight-shooting, tough-talking technology veteran but she is seen lacking two qualifications investors hoped for most: deal-making savvy and Web business know-how.

Carol Bartz was appointed to the top job at Yahoo on Tuesday after a two-month search, and brings with her a strong track record of revenue growth at software company Autodesk Inc (ADSK.O), where she was chief executive from 1992 to 2006 and still remains executive chairman. (more…)

NEW YORK – Yahoo Inc chief Jerry Yang signaled a more open stance towards Microsoft Corp on Monday, saying he had been seeking common ground when the software maker abruptly ended deal talks.

Yang told Reuters in an interview that he had “mixed feelings” about the weekend outcome, after investors showed their disappointment over the break-up of negotiations by sending Yahoo shares down 15 percent.

“We were negotiating a way to find common ground and then on Saturday they chose to walk away,” said the 39-year-old co-founder of the pioneering Internet company. “They started it and they walked away.”

Asked if Yahoo would still leave a door open for Microsoft to return, Yang said: “If they have anything new to say, we would be open. … I am more than willing to listen.”

After three months of negotiations, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer raised his offer for Yahoo to $33 per share from an initial $31, for a total deal value of about $47.5 billion.

Yang held out for $37 per share, saying that even the sweetened offer did not value Yahoo properly for its Web search advertising technology, its prominence in selling display ads and its lucrative overseas holdings.

But its two largest shareholders independently told The New York Times they would have sold for as little as $34.

“I am extremely angry at Jerry Yang and at the so-called independent board,” Gordon Crawford, portfolio manager for Capital Research Global Investors, the largest Yahoo shareholder with some 16 percent of stock, told the newspaper.

Reuters – Continued…