卡罗尔•巴茨被辞退之后，雅虎公司（Yahoo）未来会走向何方？这个问题目前依然扑朔迷离。因此，外界也无法猜测谁将代替她执掌雅虎公司。或许在新任CEO上任之前，公司可能会发生翻天覆地的转变。而且，如果这家经营不佳的互联网公司决定出售的话，新任CEO的人选或许会成为至关重要的一环。

    雅虎公司董事会使情况变得更加复杂。公司历史上就有过先例，比如2009年，雅虎董事会对卡罗尔•巴茨的任命就很让人意外，谁知道这次它又会做出怎样的惊人之举？智治基金（Ironfire Capital）的埃里克•杰克逊在接受彭博电视台（Bloomberg TV）采访时表示：“要说美国最糟糕的董事会，惠普与雅虎可谓‘旗鼓相当’。”

    与其他人一样，杰克逊也在猜测谁将执掌雅虎。他认为新闻集团（News Corp.）前高管彼得•切宁的机会最大。杰克逊称，切宁“急切”希望“走出鲁伯特•默多克的阴影，闯出自己的名堂。”

    切宁于2009年离开新闻集团，之后成立了切宁集团（Chernin Group）。近期，该公司随着电影《猿族崛起》（Rise of the Planet of the Apes）的成功而名声大噪。切宁的公司还出品电视剧，并在中国和其他亚洲国家投资了多家媒体与技术公司。

    在新闻集团任职期间，切宁一力促成了福克斯娱乐集团（Fox Entertainment）投资视频网站Hulu。Hulu由新闻集团、迪士尼（Disney）、康卡斯特旗下的NBC环球（Comcast's NBC Universal），以及普罗维登斯公司（Providence Equity Partners）共同所有。目前，该网站正在寻找买家，而雅虎正是众多收购竞标者之一。微软（Microsoft）、亚马逊（Amazon）、美国电话电报公司（AT&T）、谷歌（Google）等公司均参与了竞标。

    早在巴茨被免职之前，已有报道称切宁正在考虑与其他投资者合作收购雅虎。如果他确实“急切”希望在互联网领域闯出自己的名声，他很有可能放弃电影业务。

    另外一位可能的人选是Hulu公司的CEO贾森•吉拉尔。这位前亚马逊高管不仅是一位广告达人（这正是雅虎迫切需要的），而且，显而易见，他对互联网视频业务也非常熟悉。雅虎一直自称数字媒体公司，所以，如果它希望进一步涉足视频业务，不论能否成功收购Hulu，吉拉尔都是一个不错的选择。

    中国阿里巴巴集团（Alibaba Group）的CEO马云也是人选之一。雅虎在该集团持有43%的股份。马云一直在与巴茨博弈，希望回购这笔股份，或许他还希望收购整个雅虎。目前，阿里巴巴的市值远远超过雅虎，所以股权交易也不无可能。如果马云出任雅虎CEO，他很可能会出售雅虎的部分资产。

    It's impossible to guess who might be Carol Bartz's replacement at Yahoo because it's impossible to guess what Yahoo might look like when a replacement is named. It could be a totally different company before a CEO is even chosen. Or choosing the replacement might be part of the transformation if, for example, the struggling Internet firm decides to sell itself.

    Yahoo's (YHOO) board complicates matters. Given its history -- including its surprising choice of Carol Bartz in 2009 -- it's hard to know what it might do now. "I think HP and Yahoo are probably running neck and neck for the worst board in corporate America," said Eric Jackson of Ironfire Capital in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

    Jackson, like everyone else who is speculating on who might lead Yahoo, has former News Corp. (NWSA) executive Peter Chernin near the top of his list. Chernin, Jackson said, is "hungry" to "make his mark outside of Rupert Murdoch's shadow."

    Chernin left News Corp. in 2009. He launched Chernin Group, a production and investment group that recently had success with the movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Chernin's companies also produce TV shows and invest in media and technology firms in China and other Asian countries.

    At News Corp., Chernin was the main force behind Fox Entertainment's participation in Hulu, the video site that is owned by News. Corp., Disney (DIS), Comcast's NBC Universal (CMCSA) and Providence Equity Partners. Hulu is selling itself, and Yahoo is among the bidders along with Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), AT&T (T), Google (GOOG) and others.

    Even before Bartz' ouster, Chernin was reported to be considering an acquisition of Yahoo as part of a group of investors. If he is indeed "hungry" to make his mark on the Internet under his own name, he might be persuaded to leave behind the Hollywood glamour.

    Another possibility: Jason Kilar, the CEO of Hulu. The former top Amazon executive is ad-savvy (something Yahoo desperately needs) and, obviously, knows a lot about Internet video. If Yahoo, which refers to itself as a digital media company, gets deeper into video, with or without Hulu, Kilar might be a good choice.

    Jack Ma is CEO of China's Alibaba Group, in which Yahoo has a 43% stake. He has battled with Bartz and would like that stake back -- and maybe all of Yahoo. His company is worth far more than Yahoo is, so a stock deal is a possibility. Ma would then likely break off and sell pieces of Yahoo.

    雅虎董事会也可能进行内部提拔，即便这样也存在风险。辞退巴茨之后，雅虎董事会任命首席财务官蒂姆•莫尔斯暂代CEO一职。但他被扶正的机会微乎其微，因为当初正是巴茨将他招入雅虎。而且，尽管他是公认的成本削减高手，但雅虎利润的下滑与他也有莫大的干系。卡拉•斯维什尔在科技博客AllThingsD撰文称，莫尔斯周三出席雅虎“全体员工大会”时，他的前景便已初露端倪。很明显，他只能作为公司创始人及前任CEO杨致远的配角。（杨致远曾坚决表示，雅虎是“非卖品”，但鉴于雅虎目前的困境，谁还会相信他的话呢？）

    可能性更大的内部候选人是雅虎美洲区执行副总裁罗斯•莱文索恩。他主管雅虎日益衰落的展示广告业务，以及热门新闻、体育和财经资产，这些都属于雅虎最重要的业务。一年前，莱文索恩从专注数字媒体的投资基金Fuse Capital投奔雅虎。在新闻集团担任高管时，他主持了公司对MySpace的收购，这笔交易后来成了他履历上的一大败笔。

    另外一位强势候选人是新闻集团首席数字官乔纳森•米勒。他曾在美国在线担任CEO长达四年之久，直至2006年才离任。今年早些时候，米勒成功为新闻集团甩掉了MySpace这个包袱，为自己赢得了声誉。雅虎曾考虑聘用他为公司CEO，但因受制于美国在线前东家时代华纳集团（Time Warner）的非竞争条款，最终未能如愿。考虑到新闻集团目前的状况，或许八月份才是乔纳森•米勒投奔雅虎最佳时机。

    而另外一位候选人——美国在线CEO蒂姆•阿姆斯特朗目前更是焦头烂额，无暇旁顾。美国在线目前困难重重，蒂姆•阿姆斯特朗不仅要整合公司七零八落的业务，还因为在迈克尔•阿灵顿和著名科技博客TechCrunch一事上搞得一团糟而面临指责。但如果雅虎与美国在线能够在某些方面达成合作，或许阿姆斯特朗将有可能执掌雅虎。

    无论如何，雅虎都将经历一场剧变，但没人知道它将走向何方。或许它将被收购，或出售主要业务——比如其亚洲业务，包括阿里巴巴和雅虎日本（Yahoo Japan）——并将所得现金用于其他收购。多年以来，人们一直在问：“雅虎到底是家什么性质公司？”或许，这个问题需要留待新任领导人给出一个唯一的、具体的、可信的答案。

    翻译：刘进龙/乔树静

    Yahoo's board could decide to promote from within, though not without risk. In firing Bartz, the board named CFO Tim Morse as interim chief. It seems unlikely he'll be installed permanently since he was hired by Bartz and, though he's well-regarded as a cost-cutter, is also associated with Yahoo's revenue slide. A clue to his prospects might be found in Kara Swisher's description at AllThingsD of Morse's presence at Yahoo's "all-hands" meeting on Wednesday, where he was apparently nothing more than a supporting player to company co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang. (Yang insisted that Yahoo is "not for sale," but there's little reason to believe him given the company's distress.)

    A more likely internal candidate is Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo's executive vice president for the Americas. He's in charge of Yahoo's faltering display-ad business and its popular news, sports and finance properties -- in other words, Yahoo's most important businesses. Levinsohn came to Yahoo a year ago from Fuse Capital, an investment fund focused on digital media. As a News Corp. executive, he was in charge of that company's acquisition of MySpace, which went on to become a spectacular failure.

    A strong candidate is Jonathan Miller, News Corp.'s chief digital officer. He was CEO of AOL for four years until 2006. Miller won a gold star when he unloaded MySpace from News Corp. earlier this year. He was once a considered for the top Yahoo job, but was blocked by Time Warner, former owner of AOL, because of a noncompete clause. Given all the situation at News Corp., the timing perhaps could be august.

    The timing probably couldn't be worse for another potential candidate, though: Tim Armstrong, CEO of the beleaguered AOL (AOL). Not only is he struggling to make the disparate parts of his company work together, he's also facing heavy criticism for his handling of the mess surrounding Michael Arrington and TechCrunch. Still, if Yahoo and AOL were to partner in some way, Armstrong could come out on top.

    Yahoo has to endure some major changes no matter what, but nobody seems to know what they should be. It could be acquired, or it could sell off major chunks of itself -- perhaps its Asian businesses including Alibaba and Yahoo Japan -- and use the cash to make acquisitions of its own. For years, people have been asking: "What is Yahoo?" Any new leader has to be able to answer that question in a single, concrete, believable phrase.