Yahoo! Interim CEO Tim Morse is "Clueless"

Is Carol Bartz the only one who should have been fired? Far from it, says Trip Chowdhry, Managing Director of Equity Research at Global Equities Research. “Both Carol and Tim [Morse] should have been fired together as they both have damaged YHOO's business and repairing it will be extremely difficult,” Chowdhry explained. “We don't have high opinions on the CFO...he just kept cutting costs which is the…easiest thing to do. Both the CEO and CFO are completely clueless of the velocity of innovation that is needed to succeed in the Internet space.” Last night, Yahoo! YHOO confirmed that it had replaced its chief executive, Carol Bartz, with the man who had previously served as Yahoo!'s CFO, Tim Morse. Morse will serve as the interim CEO. “Seems to us that both the CEO and CFO were happy living in their comfort zones, and congratulating themselves on delivering a few new features here and there on different YHOO properties, none of which are revenue drivers,” Chowdhry said. Chowdhry added that neither executive possesses the ability to “think big, bold and execute fast.” “We don't think YHOO will be able to attract the Top Talent - and probably YHOO will need to settle with the left over talent that is available in the market today.” In the near-term, Chowdhry says that the timing of this announcement “indicates probably a disastrous Qtr close for YHOO.” This isn't good news for a company looking to make a big acquisition in video streaming entertainment. Traders seem to disagree, however, as Yahoo!'s shares have risen more than 8% this morning during the pre-market session. Follow me @LouisBedigian