Google's Mayer becomes the new Yahoo CEO
Source: Agencies |
July 18, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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YAHOO Inc picked Google Inc's Marissa Mayer to become its new CEO, turning to an engineer with established Silicon Valley credentials to turn around the struggling former Internet powerhouse.
Mayer, 37, edged out front-runner and acting Chief Executive Ross Levinsohn to become Yahoo's third CEO in a year. She hopes to stem losses to Google and Facebook Inc, which her predecessors failed to do.
Her hiring signaled the Internet company is likely to renew its focus on technology and products rather than beefing up online content.
Mayer, Google's 20th employee and first female engineer, has led a number of its businesses, and was credited for envisioning the clean, simple Google search interface still in use today, a major selling point for Internet surfers.
Also known for her love of fashion and a regular on the society pages, Mayer joins the extremely thin ranks of female Silicon Valley CEOs and said she was immediately interested when Yahoo's board reached out to her in mid-June.
"This is a very competitive and a tough space. I don't think that success is by any means guaranteed," she said. "My focus is always end-users, great technology and terrific talent."
Shares of Yahoo, worth less than half their value during its dotcom heyday, gained 2 percent to US$15.97 in after-hours trading.
"It's a statement on Yahoo's part to go with a product-centric CEO choice. It's a very big commitment on the board's part to pursue a product-centric strategy," venture capitalist Marc Andreessen told the Fortune industry conference in Aspen, Colorado.
Technology companies can be turned around, Andreessen said, citing as an example Apple Inc, which had teetered on the brink of bankruptcy before Steve Jobs returned to the company he co-founded.
"It's a big job that Marissa is stepping into," he said.
Mayer was expected to start yesterday, when the company was scheduled to report its quarterly financial results, but she will not join the post-release conference call.
Mayer also revealed on Twitter that she is pregnant with her first child, a boy.
She told Fortune magazine the baby is due on October 7 and she expects her maternity leave will only be a few weeks long.
Last responsible for Google's local and location services, Mayer joins fellow female tech chieftains Meg Whitman of Hewlett Packard Co, Virginia Rometty of International Business Machines and Ursula Burns of Xerox.
"A lot of people did not believe that Yahoo could get someone of the caliber of a Marissa Mayer to become the CEO at this stage," said S&P Capital IQ equity analyst Scott Kessler.
But Mayer's ascension comes as her profile at Google appeared to have diminished in recent months. Shortly after Larry Page took over the helm from Eric Schmidt, she was excluded from a group of top executives reporting directly to the CEO and granted oversight over major strategic decisions.
Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said Mayer's hiring was a "real win" for Yahoo.
Mayer, 37, edged out front-runner and acting Chief Executive Ross Levinsohn to become Yahoo's third CEO in a year. She hopes to stem losses to Google and Facebook Inc, which her predecessors failed to do.
Her hiring signaled the Internet company is likely to renew its focus on technology and products rather than beefing up online content.
Mayer, Google's 20th employee and first female engineer, has led a number of its businesses, and was credited for envisioning the clean, simple Google search interface still in use today, a major selling point for Internet surfers.
Also known for her love of fashion and a regular on the society pages, Mayer joins the extremely thin ranks of female Silicon Valley CEOs and said she was immediately interested when Yahoo's board reached out to her in mid-June.
"This is a very competitive and a tough space. I don't think that success is by any means guaranteed," she said. "My focus is always end-users, great technology and terrific talent."
Shares of Yahoo, worth less than half their value during its dotcom heyday, gained 2 percent to US$15.97 in after-hours trading.
"It's a statement on Yahoo's part to go with a product-centric CEO choice. It's a very big commitment on the board's part to pursue a product-centric strategy," venture capitalist Marc Andreessen told the Fortune industry conference in Aspen, Colorado.
Technology companies can be turned around, Andreessen said, citing as an example Apple Inc, which had teetered on the brink of bankruptcy before Steve Jobs returned to the company he co-founded.
"It's a big job that Marissa is stepping into," he said.
Mayer was expected to start yesterday, when the company was scheduled to report its quarterly financial results, but she will not join the post-release conference call.
Mayer also revealed on Twitter that she is pregnant with her first child, a boy.
She told Fortune magazine the baby is due on October 7 and she expects her maternity leave will only be a few weeks long.
Last responsible for Google's local and location services, Mayer joins fellow female tech chieftains Meg Whitman of Hewlett Packard Co, Virginia Rometty of International Business Machines and Ursula Burns of Xerox.
"A lot of people did not believe that Yahoo could get someone of the caliber of a Marissa Mayer to become the CEO at this stage," said S&P Capital IQ equity analyst Scott Kessler.
But Mayer's ascension comes as her profile at Google appeared to have diminished in recent months. Shortly after Larry Page took over the helm from Eric Schmidt, she was excluded from a group of top executives reporting directly to the CEO and granted oversight over major strategic decisions.
Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said Mayer's hiring was a "real win" for Yahoo.
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