Did Carol Bartz lose $10m with Yahoo ‘doofus’ jibe?

FORMER Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz may have just delivered the most expensive insult in history after allegedly ignoring a 'non-disparagement' clause in her contract to call the board of the internet giant she used to run "doofuses" who "fucked me over".

Bartz, who sent an email to all staff at Yahoo earlier this week informing them that the chairman of the board Roy Bostock had just fired her over the phone, made her uncomplimentary assessment of her colleagues in an interview with Fortune.

"These people fucked me over," she says. Recalling how she was fired, Bartz explains she was in New York at a technology conference and had a scheduled call with Bostock. When Bostock got on the line, Bartz says, he started reading from a lawyer's prepared statement.

Bartz interrupted, saying: "Roy, I think that's a script. Why don't you have the balls to tell me yourself?"

After Bostock had finished reading the lawyer's statement, Bartz made her disappointment clear: "I got it. I got it. I thought you were classier."

Bartz believes she was dismissed prematurely, pointing out that the Yahoo board wanted revenue growth - and were told they would have revenue growth in 2012.

"The board was so spooked by being cast as the worst board in the country," Bartz says. "Now they're trying to show that they're not the doofuses that they are."

Bartz's foul-mouthed wise-cracks are legendary, which may explain why Yahoo was reportedly careful to insert a 'non-disparagement' clause in her contract. A source told Fortune that Bartz probably violated the clause with her "doofus" jibe - and she is still owed $10 million from her Yahoo contract. ·