A decision is expected before Yahoo’s earnings report on Jan. 27, and perhaps as soon as next week, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. A three-person board committee, working with executive-search firm Heidrick & Struggles International Inc., has winnowed an initial list of about five candidates down to three. Yahoo’s remaining directors have begun to interview those candidates.

The next CEO, who would replace co-founder Jerry Yang, faces the challenge of charting a course for Yahoo after the Internet company rejected a bid from Microsoft Corp. of as much as .5 billion last year. Yahoo’s 11-member board will meet to discuss the remaining candidates soon, the person said. The meeting isn’t scheduled for this weekend.

Yahoo spokeswoman Kim Rubey declined to comment. Colleen Rubart, a spokeswoman for Autodesk, said she had no knowledge of Bartz’s plans.

Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, California, rose 6 cents to .13 at 4 p.m. New York time today in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.

Decker, identified by Yahoo as a candidate when Yang said he would step down in November, has gone through two rounds of interviews with the board, the person said. It’s still possible that Decker, 46, could emerge as Yahoo’s CEO, said the person, although some directors would like an outside candidate to give the company a fresh sense of direction.

Third Candidate

The identity of the third candidate isn’t known. Former Vodafone Group Plc CEO Arun Sarin was among the people initially considered for the post. He withdrew his name from consideration last month.

The search committee is made up of Yang, Chairman Roy Bostock and former Northwest Airlines Corp. Chairman Gary Wilson.

Bartz, 60, one of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley, was CEO of graphics-design company Autodesk for 14 years before stepping down in April 2006. Before that, she was an executive at Sun Microsystems Inc., Digital Equipment Corp., and 3M Co. After relinquishing her CEO role, she traveled extensively to meet with Autodesk customers in Europe and Asia.

At the beginning of her tenure at Autodesk, Bartz fought breast cancer, taking only limited time away from the job. The company said Bartz learned she had cancer on her first day at Autodesk and took a month off to battle it.

Bartz’s candidacy for the position was reported this week by the AllThingsDigital blog.

Deal Discussions

Consideration of a deal to sell some or all of Yahoo’s operations hasn’t dominated discussions with CEO candidates, the person said today. Yahoo has talked to Time Warner Inc. about buying that company’s AOL business, and Yang has said he’s open to a new takeover offer from Microsoft.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in November that the company is finished with attempts to buy all of Yahoo, though it still may be interested in a search agreement. That’s still the company’s position, a person familiar with the matter said this week.

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