Companies do the darndest things, and last week was no exception. Consider these recent surprises, blunders, and flat-out boneheaded moves, including: Talbots making like Yahoo and firing its CEO; Walmart returning to layaway financing; and digital recorder overkill from TiVo. (NO one watches that much telly.)
On Tuesday, Yahoo ousted embattled CEO Carol Bartz, potentially paving the way for media-savvy executive Ross Levinsohn to step in and lead the struggling Internet company. To date, some members of Yahoo's board are "very much impressed" with Levinsohn, according to one source.
Carol Bartz was CEO of Yahoo! until yesterday, when she was unceremoniously fired. During her three year-tenure, Bartz pushed the stock price up 6.6%. Now the online giant's shares have moved roughly the same amount on news of her departure. But the market didn't send shares of Yahoo! higher because Bartz is gone, but rather because of what may come next.
Internet company Yahoo announced late Tuesday that it had fired Carol Bartz as CEO. After more than two years of financial lethargy, investors became convinced that she couldn't steer Yahoo to a long-promised turnaround.