Briefcase

Yahoo fires CEO Bartz after rocky tenure

SAN FRANCISCO – Carol Bartz was fired Tuesday as Yahoo Inc.’s CEO nearly three years into a tenure in which the company fell short of the turnaround she was charged with leading.

The company said Bartz will be replaced by chief financial officer Timothy Morse on an interim basis.

The company plans to search for a permanent replacement for Bartz.

Bartz, 63, has had a rocky tenure at Yahoo since she was appointed CEO in January 2009. Most recently, Yahoo settled a dispute surrounding a Chinese payment service called Alipay in a way that ended up diminishing Yahoo’s stake in the company.

Bartz was hired in January 2009 to engineer a turnaround after Yahoo fell further behind Internet search leader Google Inc. under its two previous CEOs, its co-founder Jerry Yang and former movie studio boss Terry Semel.

Yahoo made more money under Bartz because of layoffs, service closures and other cost-cutting moves since her arrival.

Google, though, has gotten even stronger in the past two years while Facebook, the owner of the Web’s most popular hangout, has emerged as a formidable threat that’s attracting more of the major marketing campaigns that once went to Yahoo.

Associated Press

Itron announces Doyle as new vice president

Liberty Lake-based Itron Inc. on Tuesday announced Barbara Doyle is the company’s new vice president of investor relations.

She fills the job held recently by Ranny Dwiggins.

Before joining Itron, Doyle served as vice president of investor relations at Lawson Software, Inc., based in St. Paul, Minn. In April, Lawson was acquired by the private equity firm Golden Gate Capital for about $2 billion.

Doyle previously worked at IBM Corp., holding a number of positions including working in the company’s investor relations department.

She has a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Business Administration from Duke University.

Tom Sowa

International buys rival for $3.7 billion

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – International Paper Co. is buying smaller rival Temple-Inland Inc. for $3.7 billion after sweetening its bid.

The transaction will give the combined company about 40 percent of the corrugated packaging materials market in North America. IP is the largest producer of corrugated packaging in North America, while Temple-Inland is the third-largest.

IP raised its bid to $32 per share for Temple-Inland, a 30 percent premium to its Friday closing price. This is higher than its previous bid of $30.60 per share in June, which its Austin, Texas, target had rejected as too low.

IP, which is based in Memphis, Tenn., will also assume $600 million in debt.

Associated Press