In a move that surprised analysts, Yahoo Thursday announced the departure of Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen as new Chief Executive Carol Bartz put her brand on the company.

In a research note, UBS analyst Ben Schachter (no relation to the reporter) said that Yahoo “unequivocally” denied that Mr. Jorgensen’s exit was related to his comments on Wednesday that the company was open to a search deal or partnership with Microsoft.

Instead, Mr. Schachter said he believes the unexpected move reflects the desire of Ms. Bartz to shape top leadership and bring in a CFO with a financial management and technology background rather than the Wall Street experience offered by Mr. Jorgensen.

In afternoon trading Thursday, shares of Yahoo climbed $.49, or 3.9 percent, to $12.97, while Microsoft shed $.35, or 2.1 percent, to $16.61.

Mr. Jorgensen will remain with Yahoo through a transition period, the company said in a government filing.

Mr. Jorgensen’s remarks at an investor conference Wednesday were the first indication of the company’s position on a potential combination with Microsoft since Ms. Bartz took over as chief executive Jan. 13. They came one day after Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer repeated his call for a search deal with Yahoo. No. 2 Yahoo and No. 3 Microsoft remain far off the pace of online search advertising leader Google.

In a separate development, a Yahoo executive said Thursday that red tape and fragmentation are entangling advertising buyers and holding back the growth of Internet advertising.

Speaking at the Jeffries 5th Annual Internet & Media Conference in New York, Yahoo Senior Vice President Michael Walrath contrasted the ease of spending large budgets on television versus digital advertising.

“We just make it too hard,” he said. “If I’m a buyer and I want to spend $10 million on TV, I can do that with one phone call and a handshake.”

By contrast, he said that spending $10 million on digital media requires dozens of partners, inventory forecasting, discrepancy tracking and other steps.

“It’s days, weeks, months to spend $50,000 in digital media,” he added.

Mr. Walrath, who sold the remaining 80 percent of his Right Media advertising marketplace to 20-percent-shareholder Yahoo for about $680 million in 2007, declined to be drawn into a discussion of whether Yahoo should sell its search business to Microsoft.