SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) today
announced that it has appointed Marissa Mayer as President and Chief Executive
Officer and Member of the Board of Directors effective July 17, 2012. The
appointment of Ms. Mayer, a leading consumer internet executive, signals a transformed
focal point on product modernism to compel user experience and advertising
revenue for one of the world’s largest consumer internet brands, whose leading
properties include Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Mobile, Yahoo! Mail,
and Yahoo! Search.
Yahoo Inc pulled out Google Inc’s Marissa Mayer to turn out
to be its new CEO, moving to an engineer with reputable Silicon
Valley credentials to turn around the struggling past Internet
powerhouse.
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| Marissa Mayer : New CEO of YAHOO Inc. |
Mayer, 37, edged out front-runner and substituting Chief
Executive Ross Levinsohn to become Yahoo’s third CEO in a year. She hopes to stalk
losses to Google and Facebook Inc – which her high-status predecessors failed
to do. Her hiring signaled that the Internet Company is probable to renovate
its focal point on Web technology and products rather than beefing up online
content.
Most recently, Mayer was responsible for Local, Maps, and
Location Services for Google, the company’s suite of local and geographical
products including Google Maps, Google Earth, Zagat, Street View, and local
search, for desktop and mobile. Mayer joined Google in 1999 as its 20th
employee and led efforts for many of Google’s most recognizable products,
including the development of its flagship search product and iconic homepage
for over 10 years. Mayer managed some of Google’s most successful innovations,
launching more than 100 features and products including image, book and product
search, toolbar, iGoogle, Google News, and Gmail — creating much of the “look
and feel” of the Google user experience.
Mayer, Google’s 20th member of staff and first female
engineer, has led a number of its businesses, and was attributed for
envisioning the clean, simple and spotless Google search interface still in use
at present, a key selling point for Web users. Also recognized for her feel
affection of fashion and a regular on the society pages, she joins the exceptionally
thin position of feminine Silicon Valley CEOs and told Reuters that she was instantly
interested whilst Yahoo’s board reached out to her during 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, valued
less than half their original worth throughout its dotcom zenith, gained 2
percent to $15.97 in after-hours trading.
Mayer told Reuters Yahoo can excel as both a media and tech
company: “There’s a very uninteresting debate happening around Yahoo between
technology and media and it doesn’t really make sense to me. Because you look
at most major technology companies, media is a big part of its
business.” She said it was too quickly to converse about restructure, but
was “sensitive to the fact that there has been a lot of change recently at
Yahoo, so I don’t want to make unnecessary changes.”
Mayer said, “I am honored and delighted to lead Yahoo!, one
of the internet’s premier destinations for more than 700 million users. I look
forward to working with the Company’s dedicated employees to bring innovative
products, content, and personalized experiences to users and advertisers all
around the world.”
Yahoo! Co-Founder David Filo said, “Marissa is a well-known,
visionary leader in user experience and product design and one of Silicon Valley’s most exciting strategists in technology
development. I look forward to working with her to enhance Yahoo’s product
offerings for our over 700 million unique monthly visitors.”
“The Board of Directors unanimously agreed that Marissa’s
unparalleled track record in technology, design, and product execution makes
her the right leader for Yahoo! at this time of enormous opportunity,” said
Fred Amoroso, Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Mayer received her B.S. in Symbolic Systems and her M.S. in
Computer Science from Stanford
University, specializing
in artificial intelligence for both degrees. She is recognized as an inventor
on numerous patents in artificial intelligence and interface design.
“Yahoo!’s products will continue to enhance our partnerships
with advertisers, technology and media companies, while inspiring and
delighting our users. There is a lot to do and I can’t wait to get started,” Mayer
said.
What do you think about YAHOO? Will it improve with its new
CEO? Tell us in comments…………….
