Analysts Bartz to announce that ad revenues have dropped off steeply, that more layoffs are coming, and that Yahoo's perpetual negotiations with Microsoft to buy the company are still on -- a promise some analysts say has kept Yahoo share prices from falling even lower than today's US$11 range.

Yang, the co-founder who came back as CEO in mid-2007, never seemed able to speak candidly or appear decisive. In his own back then, he promised to map out a new long-term strategy in 100 days, and to make "any necessary changes" to turn Yahoo into "a company that powers and delights all of its communities by creating indispensable experiences."

Instead, Yang's biggest changes were the start of awkward, demoralizing layoffs and the shutdown of not-so-hot products, such as the paid subscription Yahoo Music Unlimited service. In his in October, Yang vaguely talked up "progress" that mostly sounded like shutdowns and layoffs. Yang himself was ousted a month later.

Bartz has taken the opposite approach, refusing to make 100-day promises while, as one put it, "cutting through the BS like a knife" behind the scenes. Let's hope she does that on the call.