Rumor: Yahoo For Sale?

Yahoo's announcement revived speculation about a possible sale of the company to various organizations and private investment groups, with the possibility of being split in two, and a possible interest from companies such as AT & T, Verizon and News Corporation.

The position will be filled temporarily by the company's chief financial officer, Tim Morse, who will combine his duties with their own CEO.

In a statement, Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock, thanked the work of Bartz in what he called "a critical time of transition in the history of the company and in the midst of very challenging macroeconomic conditions," but did not mention the reasons that led to the withering dismissal.

The executive landed at Yahoo in 2009 after more than a decade leading the software design company Autodesk and after the giant Silicon Valley closed one of the worst years of its history under the command of one of its founders, Jerry Yang.

In 2008 the company was cutting short its alliance with Microsoft and an advertising agreement with Google, and was forced to put out more than 2,500 workers.

During Bartz management, which aimed to improve the response speed of Yahoo to changes in the market, the company eliminated more than a thousand jobs and announced the closure of services such as Yahoo Buzz, MyBlogLog, Delicious, and Yahoo Picks AllTheWeb.com.

Yahoo in the last quarter reached an annual net profit growth of 11%, although revenue fell 5%.

"We are committed to explore and evaluate possibilities and opportunities that will put Yahoo in the path of growth and innovation, and imply a value for our stockholders," Bostock said in a press release today in which the company also reported that reconfigured its top management.