Yahoo CEO Bartz fired by phone

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Yahoo Inc. Chairman Roy Bostock fired CEO Carol Bartz over the phone Tuesday, ending a tumultuous tenure marked by stagnation and a rift with Chinese partner Alibaba. Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse will step in as interim CEO, and the company will search for a permanent leader to spearhead a battle in online advertising and content with rivals Google Inc. and Facebook. Shares in the company jumped 6 percent. They are scarcely higher than where they were when Bartz first took the reins in January 2009 with hopes of reviving stalled growth and competing with up-and-coming rivals.

Ontario campaign takes nasty tone early on

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CBC story here recounts a lot of silly activity intended to embarrass and demean the opposing parties as the Provincial General Election campaign gets underway. The video above is a rather amateurish effort to skewer NDP Leader Andrea Horwath for her one-metre proposal for cars and bikes. It has been generally called unworkable. Some Liberal workers decided to see if the NDP truck got too close to cyclists.

Teacher calls kids anarchists: Paikin

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A Toronto area teacher whose political sympathies were perhaps a little too clear today called kids who are not Liberal supporters “anarchists.” No doubt there are worse things, but it doesn’t seem to fit in a publicly funded classroom. TVO reporter Steve Paikin (inset) who attended Dalton McGuinty’s campaign event at Markville Secondary School this morning tweeted on the matter below:

spaikin Steve Paikin

awaiting @Dalton_McGuinty at markham secondary sch. the teacher just said to studs “if you’re anti-lib, you can leave.” 6 kids did.#onpolis

paikin Steve Paikin
the teacher continues: “ok, now that the anarchists have left…” @Dalton_McGuinty visiting a robotics class. #onpoli

“Sell patents, split top job at RIM”

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Activist shareholder Jaguar Financial of Toronto, headed by president Vic Alboini, left, is calling on Research in Motion (RIM) to split the two top jobs at the BlackBerry firm. Jim Balsillie (centre) Mike Lazaridis (right) now share the duties of CEO, an arrangement that Jaguar calls inefficient. One man should be CEO and the other an independent chairman, the banking firm said, It called for RIM to take stock of its diminished status in the hand-held business and consider selling patents, or even selling the company as a whole. Many say Jaguar, which owns, only five percent of RIM shares, has slight chance of getting much support for its ideas. Still, its a sign of shareholder discontent.

Red, White and Blue get cosy

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To read the linked news release is to realize how smart are the boys and girls at Scotiabank and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. If branding is everything, this one’s got it all. The most tangible tidbit for the public out of this arrangement is stated as follows in the release: “Over the course of the partnership, the Maple Leafs, Marlies and Scotiabank will provide a range of exciting experiential fan initiatives and community programs that will include youth skills development and women’s hockey.” Let’s hope so. Both the bank and the hockey club have profited hugely from public loyalty. Let them show is their colours. News release.