Indifference is not the most auspicious start. On Tuesday the market pushed shares of Yahoo down 1 per cent on the news that Carol Bartz will be filling the chief executive’s chair. Given that its shares are already at a third of the group’s late 2007 peak, the reaction was the investment equivalent of a Gallic shrug.

The reason is that after two months of searching for a successor to Jerry Yang – who returned to lead the company he founded only to commit a $28bn faux pas by failing to sell up to Microsoft last year – Yahoo is making a safe but uninspired choice. The 60-year-old Ms Bartz, who has a background in sales, was regarded as a capable operator while running the commercial software company Autodesk. A selection of directorships at other high-profile technology companies also indicates that she is a Silicon Valley fixture.