Yahoo! Chairman Roy Bostock fired CEO Carol Bartz over the phone on 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.

"I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward," said Bartz in an email to employees.

Analysts believe that Bartz's departure signaled the company had run out of options after failing to dominate the advertising and content markets and handing over its search operations to Microsoft Corp.

Yahoo is still one of the most popular destinations on the Internet but faces increasing competition from social networking service Facebook and from Google, which has a market value of $170 billion, 10 times more than Yahoo.

Yahoo said a new executive leadership council would help Morse in managing day-to-day operations as well as supporting "a comprehensive strategic review" to position the company for growth.

The decision to oust Bartz was reached by an unanimous vote of Yahoo's eight independent directors late last week, according to a person close to the company. Bartz, and co-founder Jerry Yang, who are also on the board, did not participate in the vote.

Read more at Yahoo! Maktoob Business.