The biggest news about the 2011 Fortune Most Powerful Women list is that we have a new No. 1: Kraft Foods (KFT) CEO Irene Rosenfeld bumped PepsiCo's (PEP) Indra Nooyi to the No. 2 spot.
But when I went on CNBC this morning to reveal the new rankings, the Squawk Box anchors seemed most interested in who fell off our top 50 Power list. First and foremost to leave the list: Carol Bartz, whom the Yahoo (YHOO) board fired in the most unceremonious style two weeks ago. Thanks to co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin for generously plugging my interview with Bartz, one day after her ouster. (If you missed the zesty Bartz story, you can read it here.) And if you want to see what I said about who's up, down, and new to the Fortune MPW list, here's the clip from CNBC.
Sallie Krawcheck
It was a double hit to Fortune's Most Powerful Women list last Tuesday when Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz and Bank of America's (BAC) Sallie Krawcheck got fired.
Bartz, No. 10 in our 2010 MPW rankings, went out with a bang--as my explosive interview with her, F-bombs included, shows. Meanwhile, Krawcheck, BofA's global wealth management chief and No. 24 on our list, exited without a sound.
I know both women well, and it's worth MORE
Patricia Sellers - Sep 12, 2011 9:26 AM ET
FORTUNE -- Here is what Carol Bartz thinks of the Yahoo (YHOO) board that fired her: "These people f---ed me over," she says, in her first interview since her dismissal from the CEO role late Tuesday.
Last evening, barely 24 hours after Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock called Bartz on her cell phone to tell her the news, she called from her Silicon Valley home ("There are reporters at the gate… a MORE
Patricia Sellers - Sep 8, 2011 11:00 AM ET
L. to R.: OWN honchos Christina Norman, David Zaslav, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Freston, Lisa Erspamer
I was on stage with Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the producer and director of Miss Representation, on Friday just after the news broke that Christina Norman was out as CEO of Oprah Winfrey's new TV network, OWN.
What an odd coincidence, since Newsom's documentary explores the dearth of women in "clout positions" in the mainstream media. Newsom says MORE
Patricia Sellers - May 9, 2011 2:54 PM ET
by Patricia Sellers
Credit: Asa Mathat
While rumors keep swirling about Yahoo (YHOO) merging with AOL (AOL) in a deal that would include private equity, don't hold your breath. A source close to Yahoo told me today that neither AOL nor private equity buyers have contacted the company to discuss a potential deal.
Meanwhile, Yahoo news that should transpire sooner: layoffs. Sources tell me that Yahoo next week plans to announce 10% MORE
Patricia Sellers - Dec 6, 2010 2:48 PM ET
By Patricia Sellers
On stage at Fortune's Most Powerful Women dinner in Silicon Valley, I interviewed Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz.
Approaching two years in the job, Bartz has slashed costs and improved Yahoo's profits, but she's seriously under the gun to get revenues growing and up the company's game against Google (GOOG) and social sites like Facebook.
In an interview last January, Bartz graded her job performance "B minus." What grade does MORE
Patricia Sellers - Dec 1, 2010 2:35 PM ET
"You need to build your career not as a ladder, but as a pyramid," Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz said in the New York Times yesterday. I wholeheartedly agree: In today's ever more complex world, you need to build a broad experience base--with peripheral vision and a willingness to make lateral moves. If you've been reading Postcards, you know that my favorite image is a jungle gym. That's kind of MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 19, 2009 11:54 AM ET
Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz
Ever since she stormed into Yahoo (YHOO) as its new CEO in January, Carol Bartz has been adamant that the company needs to simplify and define itself. What is Yahoo? "We're not a search company. We're not just a social media company. We're not just a content company. We're really the center of people's online lives," she told Fortune managing editor Andy Serwer in an MORE
Patricia Sellers - Sep 28, 2009 2:06 PM ET
Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz is speaking with Fortune Managing Editor Andrew Serwer, and she's taking questions from the audience. Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit attendee and tech editor Stephanie N. Mehta is sitting in the front row, with dispatches from the Four Seasons Resort Aviara.
But first, she pooh-poohed talk of her salty language: "I don't think it's that interesting, personally."
Women on boards
As she was coming up in business, Bartz MORE
Stephanie N. Mehta, Executive Editor - Sep 15, 2009 4:06 PM ET
Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz is speaking with Fortune Managing Editor Andrew Serwer. Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit attendee and tech editor Stephanie N. Mehta is sitting in the front row, with dispatches from the Four Seasons Resort Aviara.
Bartz, No. 8 on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list, is explaining why she took the Yahoo job: She flunked retirement. "Cocktail hour went from 6 (p.m.) to 4 (p.m.)," she joked.Joking aside, MORE
Stephanie N. Mehta, Executive Editor - Sep 15, 2009 3:53 PM ET
For the latest on the most influential women in business, philanthropy, government, and the arts, like us on Facebook. 
In a funny and candid interview, Google VP Marissa Mayer explains how she got to the top. Watch
Xerox CEO Ursula Burns shares how she once accepted a job with Dell but ended up staying with Xerox. Watch
Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). Since its launch in 1998, Pattie has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women" cover package.
A specialist at dissecting larger-than-life personalities, she has also profiled former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack, and countless CEOs.
Pattie co-chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big brand companies.
In Pattie's blog, Postcards, she provides insight into the lives of super-achievers through commentary, career advice, and Guest Posts by CEOs and other leaders.
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Fortune Most Powerful Women
Sheryl Sandberg:
Gina Bianchini
