The lead news in most financial papers and at most money websites this morning is that Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) will put itself through a major reorganization. It means nothing.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Yahoo executives are discussing a plan to centralize numerous product groups, such as its mail, search and home-page divisions, into a global-product organization." Several very senior executives have left the company recently.

Putting the pieces of Yahoo! into new buckets is not going to mean much. The company still faces two significant problems that cannot be changed. The first is widely known. Yahoo!'s share of the U.S. search market is down to about 20% against Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s figure of over 60%. That trend will not get better. Google has the superior product.

Perhaps worse is that the online display advertising market is not growing as fast as it was a year or two ago. Part of this has to do with the economy, but the law of large numbers is hitting the industry. It has become big enough that posting 20% plus year-over-year increases is becoming harder.

Yahoo!'s one strength is display marketing. It has built and bought larger systems to serve and target ads in an environment where those strengths may not be terribly helpful.

Yahoo! can reorganize until the cows come home.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that, in an attempt to move past its takeover battle with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) is planning a reorganization. People familiar with the matter said executives are discussing a plan to centralize numerous product groups into a global-product organization. Details may be announced next week.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that an internal feud at Live Nation Inc (NYSE: LYV) over strategy may soon be resolved, as the concert promoter is reportedly negotiating the exit of chairman Michael Cohl.

OTHER PAPERS:

• A recommendation by an Australian commission to open Rio Tinto Group's (NYSE: RTP) Pilbara railway to third parties could cost $30B if the idea is implemented, Rio contended and the Australian reported. The National Competition Commission, which advises Australian governments on infrastructure issues, has suggested that Fortescue Metals Group be given access to certain rail lines operated by Rio Tinto.

WEB SITES:

• A joint investigation by CBC News and the Canadian Press found one-third of people shot by Taser International Inc's (NASDAQ: TASR) Tasers reportedly required some medical attention, Engadget reported.
• TechCrunch confirmed that Joshua Schachter, the founder of delicious, will resign from Yahoo!. Sources believe the near-stalled development of the new version of delicious may have played a part in his resignation.

The initial consensus on Wall Street regarding IBM's (NYSE: IBM) announcement Wednesday that it would eliminate another 1,570 positions is that the effort represents another prudent action in its "reorganizational tripod" of fewer positions, cheaper positions, and reinvented positions.

Further, the reorganization effort represents nothing less than wholesale transformation of the company as it confronts the multi-directional competitive winds of the globalization era. Job eliminations bring Big Blue more in line with today's continuously right-sizing, temperature-taking business environment. Wholesale shifts of jobs to lower-cost markets -- IBM's India workforce surged to 52,000 in 2006 from a scant 9,000 in 2003 -- helps IBM make up for lost time vis-a-vis lower-cost competitors. And, perhaps most significant, IBM's operational shifts -- including rethinking how it delivers services -- create a more nimble, higher-value company that can respond to clients' needs quicker and more productively. IBM's shares closed Wednesday up $1.03 to $106.93.

Further, more position "rebalancing" may be ahead: IBM, which with Wednesday's cuts has now eliminated 3,700 positions in 2007, still has about 356,000 employees, including an eye-opening 128,000 based in the United States. And as part of those cuts, many analysts in the quarters ahead see a continued trimming of global services in favor of software, where revenue is growing faster.

Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO) will be reporting its first quarter 2007 earnings before the market opens next Tuesday (April 17). The last time the company reported earnings was back on Valentine's Day, when it was able to put up better than expected earnings for its fourth quarter 2006. At that time, the company posted earnings of $0.52, which came in higher than analyst estimates of $0.50. Sweet.

Coca-Cola has a strong history of beating Wall Street's expectations, so it would come as no surprise to me if the company is able to beat its numbers again this quarter. In fact, to find the last time that Coke was unable to post better than expected earnings, you would have to go all the way back to April 16, 2003 when it matched estimates for its first quarter 2003 report.

Last month Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) reported better than expected earnings. At the time the company stated it was very pleased with its performance in 2006 with the exception of one area, North America. During their conference call the company admitted they were in for some tough times during 2007, and that they were working on ways to turn things around.

Well, it looks like their first major move in that direction comes in the form of a massive re-organization.

The company announced today that they are going to be breaking up their North American business to create three new beverage divisions. The resulting three business' are going to be sparkling beverages, still beverages and emerging brands.

Coke is hoping that by breaking up into these three different divisions it will be able to put up a better fight against their number one competitor, PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP). Once the split is made, all three of the resulting divisions are going to be responsible for their own product developments. By narrowing each divisions focus this should be a positive step for Coke and one that will allow for better growth in all areas of the business.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

Terry Semel, an old-economy advertising guy, and Sue Decker, a former head of global research on Wall Street, keep their jobs at Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO). The one person with tech experience, Chief Operating Officer Dan Rosensweig, gets fired.

In the press release, Semel made sure to comment that he will "actively" lead the management team and work closely with co-founder Jerry Yang. I guess we were to assume Semel has been inactively leading the company over the past few years.

It is hard to believe how patient the Yahoo! board has been with Semel. Under his leadership, the company has continually missed its numbers, has attempted to hide weak growth by adding on revenue from acquisitions, and has completely lost the search lead to Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG).

How much longer will it take for the Yahoo!'s board to find the right CEO?

A few weeks ago we were buzzing about a posting in which several Yahoo! insiders and outsiders were ranked with the probability they might succeed embattled CEO Terry Semel. The scuttlebutt amongst media insiders: Yahoo! is disorganized, without a unifying personality to lead the company, weak on strategy and thinly-staffed. First among the contenders to take over Terry's job and charge forth with a new mission was CFO Susan Decker.

It seems as if the "bookies" were right. Tonight Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) got a reorganization. In the press release, the company announces it has divided itself into three sections: the Audience Group, the Advertiser & Publisher Group, and the Technology Group. What's more, COO Dan Rosensweig is leaving the company in March (he was rumored to be a rival to Decker for the CEO spot). Decker will head the Advertiser & Publisher Group (i.e. where the money is), certainly a nod toward her potential to take over the "corner cube" from Semel.

Buzz started at 4 p.m. local time: there was an internal company-wide executive level webcast. Nothing says "someone is getting fired" like "internal company-wide executive-level webcast." At least not in a web company! The response so far: "no surprise," "no surprise" that Project Panama is being set as a priority for the new Technology group (and, from the same post, "If you can't sum up a unit in 30 words maybe it's not streamlined enough"), "where is Jeff Weiner, Yahoo!'s former golden boy?" and, from an insider, why not Britney Spears as CEO? [Or, at the very least, the head of the audience group, for which a search party has been launched.]

Indra Nooyi isn't even officially begun her new role as CEO of PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP), and already she's shaking things up. On Friday Pepsi announced Nooyi would be promoting John Compton to CEO of PepsiCo North America, effective immediately. The promotion is only part of a reorganization that morphs Pepsi into two separate divisions, both reporting directly to Nooyi: PepsiCo International and PepsiCo North America.

Bank of America analyst Bryan Spillane likes Compton in the role, but according to the Wall Street Journal [subscription required], said that Pepsi's "talent glut" might mean other executives would begin to grumble about their relative paucity of promotions and responsibilities.

Compton's background is notable for his ability to manage disparate organizations; he was responsible for the integration of Quaker Oats into PepsiCo following the 2001 merger. Nooyi won't be officially his boss until October 1, when she takes over from outgoing CEO Steven Reinemund.