Before starting a search for Bartz's replacement, Yahoo's board wants to determine whether the correct strategy for the company is to remain independent or be sold whole or in parts, the Journal reported, quoting anonymous sources.

Yahoo has yet to retain an executive search firm, and instead has instructed a board committee to conduct a review into whether Yahoo should be sold or not, according to the article. Allen & Co. and UBS Investment Bank will assist Yahoo with this review, the Journal said.

Since Bartz was fired on Tuesday, other anonymously-sourced reports in various media outlets have speculated that co-founder and former CEO and is trying to round up investors to back him up, and that over a possible merger.

Bartz stepped in as CEO in January 2009 and implemented a major corporate restructuring to make the company more agile, a big technology upgrade for its advertising and publishing systems, and a streamlining of the company's products and services.

However, Bartz came under fire this year for a series of missteps. Early in the year, Bartz acknowledged that the 10-year, wide-ranging search technology and advertising partnership she brokered in 2009 with Microsoft wasn't yielding the expected revenue stream, a problem that persists.