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revealed its major restructuring program in more than five years and as part of this extensive overhaul, the company organized its operations into three core groups. Yahoo! noted that its chief financial officer Sue Decker would lead advertising and chief technology officer Farzad Nazem would lead the technology group.

Yahoo! also said it is in search of a suitable executive to lead the third group, audience. The company further revealed that chief operating officer Dan Rosensweig would leave the company in March to ensure a smooth transition.

It was in 2001 that Yahoo! underwent a key restructuring earlier, under the leadership of Terry Semel, who was brought to the reins by the company's co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo to save it from dot-com related recession. Thursday, the world's largest soft-drink maker Coca-Cola announced the promotion of Muhtar Kent to the role of president and chief operating officer, filling a position that has been vacant since a management shake-up in 2004.

Kent, currently the president of Coca-Cola's International operations, would assume the new job with immediate effect and his elevation is viewed as a move to place him in the line to succeed Chief Executive Officer Neville Isdell. Monday, artificial heart device maker Thoratec Corp. ( | | | ) announced the appointment of David Smith as executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective Dec.

29. Smith succeeds Cynthia Lucchese who in August revealed her decision to relinquish her positions due to personal reasons. Lucchese She would remain with the company through early next year to help with the transition process.

At Thoratec, Smith would be responsible for accounting, external reporting, tax, financial planning and budgeting, treasury, information technology and investor relations functions. Smith previously served as vice president and finance head at Chiron Corp. The Pleasanton, California-based company's third-quarter earnings were lower than last year despite higher revenues.

The company's net income for the quarter declined to $1.5 million or $0.03 per share from $3.

1 million or $0.06 per share in the third quarter of 2005. Thoratec reported revenues of $51.

7 million for the quarter, a 6% increase over revenues of $48.8 million a year ago. Shares of Thoratec were up $0.

13 to $14.83 on Monday on the Nasdaq. Nam Tai Electronics Inc.

( | | | ), a service provider to telecommunication and consumer electronic equipment manufacturers, on Monday revealed that it named investment banker Warren Lee chief executive. Lee takes over the reins from Patinda Lei, who led the company for a short period of less than a year. Nam Tai said that Lei, who is also serving as finance chief, would continue as interim chief financial officer of the company and chairman of Zastron Electronic or Shenzhen Co.

Nam Tai is in search of a permanent chief financial officer. The new chief executive Lee has been a director of the company's Nam Tai Electronic Electrical Products subsidiary since March 2004. He has experience in corporate and investment banking, and corporate takeovers.

According to Nam Tai spokesman Lorne Waldman, the company's board decided that Lei was not the right person for the chief executive post. "She was sort of brought in on a trial basis," Waldman said. Lei's strengths were in managing Nam Tai's manufacturing operations and marketing the company's products to electronics manufacturers, Waldman noted.

"She wasn't from a financial background. I think she had some difficulties in terms of communicating with people within the investment community, both because of language and not necessarily understanding what they were looking for," Waldman added. Reports indicated that Lei's departure was a surprise to analysts' community.

Road Town, British Virgin Islands-based Nam Tai, one of the world's largest EMS firms, employs more than 7,000 workers and it reported about $800 million in revenue for calendar 2005. For the third quarter of 2006, the company's net income was $12.1 million or $0.

28 per share, compared to $18.8 million or $0.43 per share in the same quarter of last year.

Net sales for the quarter rose to $218.52 million from $207.86 million in the prior-year quarter.

In September, the company had trimmed its full-year revenue growth outlook to about 10% from the earlier target of 25% sales growth. Shares of Nam Tai dropped $0.27 on Monday to close at $15.

91 on the New York Stock Exchange. King Pharmaceuticals ( | | | ) said on Monday that it named president and chief executive officer Brian Markison to the post of chairman of the board. The appointment would come into effect at the close of the company's May 2007 annual meeting of shareholders.

Markison replaces Ted Wood, who would remain a member of the board and would serve as lead independent director. In early November, King Pharma had appointed Philip Incarnati, president and chief executive officer of McLaren Health Care Corp. in Flint, Michigan, to its board and Audit Committee.

For the third quarter ended in September, the Bristol, Tennessee-based pharmaceutical company's net income declined to $90.41 million or $0.37 per share from $121.

86 million and $0.50 per share in the year-ago quarter. Total revenues for the quarter were $491.

71 million, up from $518.03 million in the prior-year quarter. Shares of King Pharma closed Monday's trade at $16.

42, down $0.01 on the New York Stock Exchange. Monday, shopping-center developer Equity One Inc.

( | | | ) revealed that president Jeffrey Olson assumed the post of chief executive on December1, a month earlier than expected. Olson was named president and director of the company in November. As chief executive officer, Olson replaces Chaim Katzman, who owns a 42% stake in Equity One.

Katzman, the largest shareholder of the company, held the positions of president and chief executive for more than 15 years, and now would continue to serve as chairman of the board. Olson's appointment also follows the resignation of Doron Valero as president and chief operating officer. Valero would remain with the company until December 31, 2006.

The company, in early November, named Jeffrey Stauffer executive vice president and chief operating officer. Stauffer was previously employed at Pan Pacific Retail Properties, Inc., a $4 billion shopping center recently acquired by Kimco, where he served as chief operating officer.

Monday, the North Miami Beach, Florida-based company appointed Deborah Cheek as new vice president and director of finance. Prior to joining Equity One, Cheek served as finance chief of Landex Corp. and as regional finance director of real estate investment trust Kimco Realty Corp.

On November 1, Equity One said that its third-quarter net income declined to $14.1 million or $0.19 per share from $28 million or $0.

37 per share in the prior-year quarter. The company's total revenue reached $54.29 million in the quarter, down from $58.

41 million in the comparable quarter a year ago. Equity One stock gained $0.88 on Monday to close at $28.

05 on the New York Stock Exchange. United States Cellular Corp. ( | | | ), a wireless service carrier and subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems Inc.

( | | | ), said on Monday that it named Controller Steven Campbell to assume the post of chief financial officer, effective January 1. Campbell succeeds Kenneth Meyers, who is resigning to join Telephone and Data Systems as finance chief. Campbell joined Chicago, Illinois headquartered U.

S. Cellular as vice president and controller in June 2005. Prior to that, he held financial leadership positions at 3Com Corp.

, U.S. Robotics and Amoco Corp.

Telephone and Data Systems said Meyers is replacing Sandra Helton, who is resigning effective December 31. Meyers would also join the Telephone and Data Systems' board, while continuing as a director of U.S.

Cellular. For the recently closed second quarter, U.S.

Cellular's net income increased to $51.09 million or $0.58 per share from restated $38.

08 million or $0.44 per share last year. The company's operating revenues rose 14% for the quarter to $845.

70 million from restated $741.97 million a year ago. Chicago, Illinois-based Telephone and Data Systems also posted higher earnings for the second quarter, with net income available to common shares surging 77.

7% to $172.4 million from $97 million in the same quarter of the previous year. The company's operating revenues for the quarter, which included contributions from the U.

S. cellular, and TDS Telecom units, rose 10% to $1.07 billion from $969.

9 million, as restated, for the comparable period one-year ago. newratings.com reported that analyst William Power of Robert W Baird reiterated 'outperform' rating on Telephone Data Systems shares with a target price of $58.

In a research note published on December 5, the analyst opinioned that the transition at the management level is likely to be seamless, given Meyer's long history with U.S. Cellular and Telephone Data Systems.

The company has an 82% stake in U.S. Cellular.

Shares of U.S. Cellular gained $0.

36 on Monday and closed at $66.82 on the Nasdaq. Monday, Telephone and Data Systems stock were up $1.

00 to $52.50 on the AMEX. Faro Technologies Confirms Co-CEO Jay Freeland as President, CEO Faro Technologies Inc.

( | | | ), a maker of computerized inspection devices, on Monday announced the appointment of Jay Freeland as president and chief executive officer. Freeland had been serving as president and co-chief executive since January and was president and chief operating officer since November 2004. He is also a member of the company's board of directors.

The Lake Mary, Florida-based company also stated that co-founder Simon Raab, who has been serving as chairman and co-chief executive since January, would remain on the board as non-executive chairman. During the third quarter ended in September, the company's net income rose to $3.19 million or $0.

22 per share from $2.62 million or $0.18 per share last year.

Sales for the quarter were $38.37 million, up from $32.60 million in the previous-year quarter.

The company also affirmed its full-year sales guidance range of $150-$157 million and gross margin range of 57-59%. Monday, shares of Faro dropped $0.27 to close at $21.

70 on the Nasdaq. Electronic Data Systems Corp. or EDS ( | | | ), on Tuesday revealed that it named Ron Rittenmeyer President.

He would also continue serving as chief operating officer. The Plano, Texas-based information technology company said that Rittenmeyer is responsible for all of EDS' global operations. Rittenmeyer replaces Jeff Heller, who has served as president since rejoining EDS in 2003 after a short retirement period.

Heller has been named vice chairman. Both appointments are effective immediately, the company noted. Rittenmeyer joined EDS in July 2005, and prior to that, served as managing director of a private equity firm, the Cypress Group.

Heller's career with EDS spans nearly four decades and he has held numerous senior executive positions during this time. Wednesday, EDS announced the promotion of Charlie Feld as senior executive vice president, Applications Services. Reports suggested that many analysts expect Rittenmeyer to eventually succeed chairman and chief executive Mike Jordan.

They have credited Rittenmeyer with the company's turnaround, achieved by boosted sales and operating margins. In its most recent quarter, EDS' net income was up 83% year-over-year to $128 million, while sales increased 9% to $5.3 billion.

In a November research note, Lehman Brothers analyst Alan Hellawell raised his 2007 operating margin forecast for EDS to 6.5% from 5.3%.

Hellawell said Rittenmeyer is committed to improve EDS's competitiveness through greater use of offshore workers. The brokerage also upgraded EDS' stock to 'Overweight' from 'Equal Weight'. Meanwhile, on December 1, Prudential downgraded to 'Neutral' from 'Overweight' and lowered price target to $28.

Following the news, EDS' stock slipped $0.47 on Wednesday to close at $26.59 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Yahoo! COO Dan Rosensweig to Leave Tuesday, internet search provider Yahoo! Inc.

( | | | ) revealed a reorganization of its structure and management in order to focus its operations with key customer segments and to effectively utilize its strengths to capitalize on future growth opportunities. The streamlining would organize the company's disparate operations into three core groups, focusing on its website's audience, advertising network and technology. As part of the biggest overhaul in more than five years, the company named chief financial officer Sue Decker to lead advertising sales.

Decker's appointment is seen as her unofficial elevation as chief executive Terry Semel's successor. The technology segment would be led by chief technology officer Farzad Nazem. Meanwhile, Yahoo!

's search for an executive is underway to lead the audience division. Two top executives have resigned as part of the most extensive shakeup in the company. Yahoo!

said that chief operating officer Dan Rosensweig would leave the company in March. Earlier, Lloyd Braun, a former ABC studio chief who led Yahoo's news, video and music properties, had left the company. Yahoo!

expects to complete its reorganization by the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2007, and said that the leadership assignments would be effective January 1, 2007. Sources reported that Yahoo!'s restructuring comes just a few weeks after a senior vice president Brad Garlinghouse criticized the company for losing its focus.

In an internal note leaked to the media, Garlinghouse envisaged a more radical restructuring in the company, with work force reduction of 15% to 20%. Reports also indicated that Yahoo!'s slowing growth and failure in finding out solutions to move fast in the aggressively competitive industry made investors skeptical and Semel unacceptable.

For the past year, Yahoo! has been losing impetus amid stiff competition from search engine giant Google Inc. ( | | | ).

To add to Yahoo!'s woes, Google recently bought Internet's hottest video site YouTube in a $1.76 billion deal, which is expected to bring more lucrative advertising opportunities to Google.

Meanwhile, Yahoo's attempts to buy Facebook.com are facing frustration. Facebook.

com is the second largest social networking site behind News Corp.'s MySpace, reports said. Above all, Yahoo's stock has lost 33% of its price so far this year.

Ryan Jacob, portfolio manager of the Jacob Internet Fund reportedly said, "It's not that Yahoo! is performing poorly, it's just that they aren't reaching their potential." According to analysts, despite the company's success over the last decade and its considerable advertising connections and hundreds of millions of global users, the company is struggling to find itself.

The restructuring may be the first step toward a bigger overhaul of management Citing analyst Scott Kessler of Standard Poor's in New York, sources said that the company did not name an executive to run one of the three units or a successor to Decker as finance chief, which underlines the lack of depth in the management team. "They need new blood,'' said Jane Snorek at FAF Advisors in Minneapolis. "This is not going to do it unless they bring in someone from the outside.

I think they could use a new CEO," Snorek added. In the view of Piper Jaffray Co. analyst Safa Rashtchy, Yahoo!

requires more fundamental change. As per Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel, Yahoo!'s current management doesn't have the technology background to compete with Google.

According to research firm ComScore Networks, 130 million U.S. Web surfers visit Yahoo!

site a month. Many of its properties, including news and e-mail, rank at or near the top of their categories. In 2001, chief executive officer Semel, a former movie studio executive, had led a significant restructuring at Yahoo!

by joining dozens of the company's divisions into more organized units and slashing hundreds of jobs. Signaling the dismay of investors, who were expecting more from the company's corporate restructuring, Yahoo's stock fell 2% or $0.57 on Wednesday to $26.

86 on the Nasdaq. Wednesday, consumer goods company Fortune Brands Inc. ( | | | ) announced the election of Bruce Carbonari to the new position of president and chief operating officer, effective January 1, 2007.

Carbonari, a 17-year veteran of Fortune Brands, has been leading the company's home hardware subsidiary for more than seven years. Carbonari previously held the position of president and chief executive of the company's Moen Incorporated business. In the home hardware unit of the company, Carbonari would be succeeded by Rich Forbes, head of the company's MasterBrand Cabinet unit.

Forbes' role would be taken over Greg Stoner, group president of retail at MasterBrand Cabinets or MBCI unit. On October 27, Deerfield, Illinois-based Fortune Brands said that its third-quarter net income rose to $151 million or $0.98 per share compared to $92.

2 million or $0.61 per share in the prior-year quarter. Net sales for the third quarter were up 23% to $2.

22 billion from $1.80 billion in the same quarter of last year. newratings.

com reported on November 27 that Banc of America Securities analyst Bryan Spillane maintained 'neutral' rating on Fortune Brands, while setting the target price at $82. Spillane said that the company has indicated on its intention to divest its stake in its Maxxium joint venture by 2009 due to a shift in its priorities. The company also intends to expand its operations in Asia.

Fortune Brands is either likely to opt for the sale of the company or initiate some action prior to the Swedish government's move to privatize V S Vin Sprit AB, with which it has formed a joint venture, Spillane added. Wednesday, shares of Fortune Brands slid $0.33 to $81.

76 on the New York Stock Exchange. Kennametal Inc. ( | | | ), Latrobe, Pennsylvania-based maker of tooling and engineered components used in production processes, on Thursday revealed that it appointed Frank Simpkins as chief financial officer and Larry Yost as chairman of the board.

Yost would succeed former president and chief executive Markos Tambakeras whose one-year term as chairman is nearing end. Simpkins has been serving as interim finance chief since September 30 after Cathy Smith left to become chief financial officer of Centex Corp., a Dallas-based homebuilder.

Kennametal also said that it named Wayne Moser vice president of finance and corporate controller. The changes are effective immediately. In the second half of September, the company named Raj Datt as Vice President and Chief Information Officer.

For the first quarter ended in September, the company's net income increased to $30.36 million or $0.78 per share from $28.

10 million or $0.72 per share last year. However, sales for the quarter were down to $542.

81 million from $545.77 million a year ago. On the New York Stock Exchange, the company's shares were down $0.

03 on Wednesday to end at $61.91. Thursday, pharmaceutical company Celgene Corp.

( | | | ) revealed that it appointed David Gryska as chief financial officer. In his new role, Gryska would lead the worldwide finance organization and would have the responsibility for accounting and reporting, strategic planning and analysis, treasury, tax, audit, and corporate communication. The Summit, New Jersey headquartered company said Gryska served as a chief financial officer of public companies for more than ten years.

Most recently, he was with SCIOS Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that was acquired by Johnson Johnson. Separately, the company announced the appointment of Thomas Daniel as President of Celgene Research.

Daniel most recently served as the chief scientific officer at Ambryx, Inc. Prior to that, Daniel was Vice President of Research at Amgen Inc. The company said on Friday that clinical investigators would present data from recent and on-going clinical trials of Revlimid at the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting from December 9 to 12, 2006.

It is indicated for the treatment of multiple myeloma in combination with dexamethasone. The company's third quarter enjoyed an upside in net earnings to $20.44 million or $0.

05 per share from $0.67 million or break even in the comparable period last year. Total revenue for the quarter rose 89.

1% to $244.83 million from $129.51 million in the prior-year quarter.

Thursday, shares of Celgene dropped $2.21 to $55.37 on the Nasdaq.

Coca-Cola Appoints Muhtar Kent as President, COO Thursday, soft-drink maker Coca-Cola Co. ( | | | ) revealed the promotion of Muhtar Kent to the positions of president and chief operating officer, with immediate effect. Kent has been currently serving as president of Coca-Cola International and his elevation is viewed as placing him in the row to succeed Chief Executive Officer Neville Isdell.

Kent has worked for Coca-Cola for almost 30 years, and under his leadership, the Atlanta, Georgia-based company's International operations generated sales of $15 billion, accounting for 80% of the profit. Reports said that analysts were looking for Kent's promotion for months and it creates the company's first succession plan since the death of former Chairman Roberto Goizueta in 1997. Bloomberg reported that analyst Keith Patriquin of Lookis Sayles Co.

said Kent knows the company's system inside and outside, while the company needs more people with the experience to know what bottlers really want and need. According to John Faucher of J.P.

Morgan Securities and Mark Swartzberg of Stifel Nicolaus Co, Kent's appointment makes him the likely successor. As per WSJ report, Carlos Laboy, an analyst with Bear Stearns Co said that Kent provided clarity of roles, responsibilities and economic splits to a Latin American bottling system that desperately needed it and had never obtained it. Meanwhile, certain reported indicated that Kent's promotion raised concerns from some investors over his short sale of Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd.

stock a decade ago. That time, Kent was a manager at the Australian bottler. Coca-Cola stock was up $0.

34 on Thursday to close at $48.72 on the New York Stock Exchange.