Carol Bartz, the new Chief Executive Officer of Yahoo Inc. froze employees' salaries for 2009.

It is her first move to reduce costs at the company which along with market rivals, is struggling to survive in a steep economic downturn.

Yahoo confirmed the salary freeze today although it said some employees may get the chance to increase their payments in case they are promoted to other jobs, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

A spokesman for the company, Brad Williams, told AP it was the firm's management which decided it was the responsible thing to do.

Bartz was appointed as Yahoo's CEO two weeks ago succeeding Jerry Yang.

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