"I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's chairman of the board," Bartz said in the memo that she sent to staff. "It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward."

Said Morse in the company's press release, "It is an honor to be selected for this role and lead the Company with this world-class team of executives. I look forward to working with the Executive Leadership Council and the talented employees of Yahoo!, and to partnering with the board to invest in the organization and continue to drive its ongoing growth plans."

As currently is also responsible for the investor relations and mergers and acquisitions groups, and is charged with helping develop the company's business strategy. Morse previously was CFO of Altera Corp., a semiconductor company specializing in programmable logic devices for communications, industrial, and consumer applications, where he established scalable, cost-effective processes and controls.

He previously served as the CFO and general manager of business development for General Electric Plastics. A 15-year GE veteran, the Boston College management-school graduate also held a variety of positions at GE Appliances and GE Capital in North America, Europe and Asia, as well as with GE Plastics.