Yahoo Appoints Marissa Mayer as Its New CEO
Yahoo Appoints Marissa Mayer as Its New CEO
This week Yahoo has given a big surprise by announcing that the company is going to appoint Marissa Mayer, the vice president of the search products and user experience at Google, as the new CEO. There was no indication from the Google’s management level about this move.
The announcement has been hailed at all level given to the fact that Mayer was Google’s first female engineer and one of the top executives of the giant company. With this move, Mayer is going to be the most prominent woman in the corporate level of America as well as in Silicon Valley. She was supposed to start her new role from July 17.
Many experts are expecting Marissa’s inclusion as a big boost to the struggling company that has been failing to provide any match to the marketing strategy of Google and Facebook for online ad dollars.
Yahoo can be hopeful about this move, as Mayer was the brain behind some of Google’s most popular products, such as Gmail, Google Images, Google News, Google Maps, and its eponymous search engine. She is a high-profile personality who is capable of attracting media as well as investors’ attention very well. However, her new venture is going to be very challenging for sure, as Yahoo has the record of discharging four CEO’s in five years.
According to many experts, Yahoo could choose no other person than Mayer for reviving their declining business. One of such experts is Harry McCracken who says that Mayer has helped Google to become Google, a brand. She is the perfect choice for helping Yahoo to overcome the identity crisis that it has been suffering for years. Rafe Needleman also thinks Mayer as an excellent choice who can bring some invaluable factors to Yahoo. He expects Mayer to take some long-term visions and recruiting some talented personnel who can initiate Yahoo’s success.
However, not everyone, especially the shareholders, has hailed this appointment due to Mayer’s six months pregnancy. Yahoo did not take it as an issue when Mayer disclosed the fact during her interview process. While many people are defending Mayer, the shareholders of Yahoo seem bullish on her. They think that Mayer may fail to perform her duty properly and may not manage her usual 90-hour workweek due to the pregnancy and childbirth issues. The shareholders, who have been experiencing the loss of Yahoo’s stock value over the past four years, cannot take this possibility in a positive light.
However, Yahoo is not taking these concerns seriously. David Filo, the co-founder of Yahoo, welcomed her and termed her as a visionary leader in the sectors of product design and user experience. He thought that Mayer would be able to offer something unique to the 700 millions monthly visitors looking for Yahoo products.
Category: Financials, News