A Fool Looks Back

Updated

Well, that was an anticlimactic end to the Carol Bartz era at Yahoo! (NAS: YHOO) .

Sure, Bartz went out fighting, even calling the board members doofuses. And, yes, there will now be some drama about the future of Yahoo! Will China's Alibaba Group buy the company? Will co-founder Jerry Wang find a way to take the company private?

However, there wasn't a shareholder revolt clamoring for change -- at least not a vocal one. Sure, Yahoo!'s shares underperformed the market during Bartz's tenure. She never should have outsourced Yahoo!'s search roots to Microsoft (NAS: MSFT) , and maybe things would have been different if she had been successful in acquiring Groupon.

Yahoo! did make the right decision, but now the real fireworks will start as the boardroom comes under fire for hiring her in the first place.

Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

  • France is proposing a tax on sugary drinks, and Coca-Cola's (NYS: KO) response was to suspend a $24 million investment in its French operations. Cola wars, anyone?

  • Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of Dunkin' Donuts parent Dunkin' Brands (NAS: DNKN) with a "sell" rating. I guess they won't be getting a free dozen glazed doughnuts this week.

  • Power-plan maker FuelEnergy (NAS: FCEL) saw its revenue surge 65% in its latest quarter. That's another way to generate some serious power.

  • Netflix (NAS: NFLX) launched its streaming service in Brazil on Monday, with 42 other countries through Latin America and the Caribbean set to complete their rollout in a few days. Can I stream Brazil in Brazil?

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz

At the time thisarticle was published The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Coca-Cola.Motley Fool newsletter serviceshave recommended buying shares of Netflix, Coca-Cola, Yahoo, and Microsoft; creating a bull call spread position in Microsoft; and buying puts on Netflix. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors.Longtime Fool contributorRick Munarrizcalls them as he sees them. He owns shares of Netflix and is also part of theRule Breakersnewsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

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