Yahoo CFO Jorgensen leaves amid management shuffle

SAN FRANCISCO -- Yahoo Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen is leaving the struggling Internet company as part of a management reshuffling by the company's new CEO.

The 49-year-old Jorgensen, CFO since June 2007, was a close ally of former Yahoo president Susan Decker, who resigned last month after she didn't get the CEO job. Jorgensen's exit was disclosed in a regulatory filing Thursday.

"Today I'm rolling out a new management structure that I believe will make Yahoo a lot faster on its feet," Bartz said in a blog post Thursday.

"It means everything gets simpler," she wrote. "We'll be able to make speedier decisions, the notorious silos are gone, and we have a renewed focus on the customer." Among changes:

•Technology and product groups will be combined into one entity led by chief technology officer Ari Balogh.

•Two regions — North America and international — will be responsible for delivering Yahoo products and services. Previously, those tasks were divided among four regions. Hilary Schneider will head North America.

•David Ko will lead the mobile business, strategy and monetization teams.

•The company created a customer advocacy group to improve customer relations.

News of the organizational changes sent Yahoo shares up 4%, to $12.98, in trading Thursday.

Bartz, 60, known for her focused leadership and direct manner, faces a number of challenges to shore up Yahoo's flagging financial performance.

The moves are overdue, tech analysts say, because Yahoo continued to suffer from issues described in former executive Brad Garlinghouse's so-called Peanut Butter Manifesto in November 2006. In it, he described a company spread too thin, and in need of defining its priorities.

"What she's done is create a logical management structure that addresses the needs of advertisers and consumers," says Kevin Lee, CEO of Didit, a search-engine marketing company that does business with Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and others.