9 ms·
Wow. I am speechless. There is probably no better person on earth to light a user- and product-focused fire under Yahoo. But the risk, the risk for her is just
by jbyers 14y ago
Wow. I am speechless. There is probably no better person on earth to light a user- and product-focused fire under Yahoo. But the risk, the risk for her is just stunning. Huge props to her for making the leap from what must be a very comfortable Google and for the board for finding a stunning candidate to lead the revival of Yahoo.
(Edit: my definition of risk is lost time and missed opportunity. She's not going to suffer in compensation or reputation.)
- jblock 14y agoI mentioned this out loud at the office and that was the exact same reaction.
- backspace 14y agoI'm sorry but I find it so hilarious. I worked at Yahoo and Google both. I know both their cultures (and especially the culture at Yahoo after all the good engineers left). IMHO, she is status quo - no different than the horrible string of CEOs being hired by Yahoo. In fact, I will put a stake in the ground that she will not move the needle further than what Scott/Bartz did. I just can't get over how hilarious this situation is.
- RollAHardSix 14y agoWould you care to elaborate more on the different cultures both as individual entities and in direct comparison to each other?
- hv23 14y agoCurious; care to elaborate from an insider's perspective? What about their cultures make this situation hilarious, and how come you're convinced that Mayer won't make a difference?
- drtse4 14y agoNot knowing much about Mayer and reading some comments here i have the opposite question, why Mayer should be able to make a difference?
- wyclif 14y agoThe biggest factor is not Mayer herself, but again the "wrestling with a pig" factor mentioned in an excellent observation above. Yahoo! is not a sexy company.
- jmsduran 14y agoYes, I too am curious about your perspective. There are far too many posts claiming "Hey, I worked at X and Y!" without providing any sort of perspective whatsoever.
- brianstorms 14y agoI agree w/ backspace.
- rokhayakebe 14y agoBackspace, you sound negative. Can you at least provide some information which makes you feel like she is not going to perform? Like her previous performance, because that would be an ok indicator in this case.
- uptown 14y ago"the risk for her is just stunning" What risk? She's already achieved complete financial security from here time at Google. At Yahoo! she'll be taking the reins of a company that still attracts a massive userbase but is aching for someone with a fresh viewpoint on how to transform the company. Nothing buy potential IMO.
- jbyers 14y agoI'm not talking about money or reputation. The risk I see is time and opportunity. She could spend a maddening four years not moving the needle at Yahoo rather than another company or a startup of her own. Four years of punishing travel, endless meetings, unending Wall Street scrutiny. That risk.
- TylerE 14y agoDid you seriously just compare the CEO position at Yahoo to a _start-up_? To think the two are even in the same zip code, much less the same ballpark, is just, well it reflects a rather isolated viewpoint, put it that way. Yahoo is a $19B corporation.
- jbyers 14y agoCorrected. Poor phrasing on my part. I was suggesting a likely alternative for her would be starting a company, not that Yahoo is anything like a startup.
- TylerE 14y agoNo, that's exactly how I took it. Oblig car metaphor: That's like saying hey, as an alternative to a free Lamborghini Aventador, you can have an old Pontiac Fiero chassis, and a Chevy 350 with a blown head gasket. If you're really lucky and amazing you might make something worth 1/10th what the Lamborghini is.
- debacle 14y ago
- backspace 14y agoActually, there is no risk at all (if you know what's behind the covers). She is stagnating at Google. She had high ranking high influence positions at Google but over the years has been relegated to a position that has little visibility and control, mostly due to her non execution. This is a great opportunity for her to make some serious cash and be the "top dog" in a kennel of average dogs, rather than the opposite at Google. Also, even if she crashes and burns at Yahoo, she will get many more opportunities simply due to the brand recognition she has due to her tenure at Google.
- awakeasleep 14y agoCould you explain more what you mean by non-execution? I don't travel in circles where I have context for something like that and it sounds interesting.
- dtf 14y agoI had a CEO once who used to say "execute" a lot. I didn't really know what it meant either but it felt exciting when he said it. Sometimes I say it myself in the shower, when there's no-one within earshot.
- danellis 14y agoWhat, like "work harder or we'll execute the lot of you"?
- refurb 14y agoIt's typically used as a buzzword to describe "getting s$%t done that matters".
- sharkweek 14y agoMatt Cutts seems to disagree about her work -- https://twitter.com/mattcutts/status/224963111222910976 https://twitter.com/mattcutts/status/224963111222910976
- 14y ago
- ChuckMcM 14y agoDefinitely unexpected that she would show up at Yahoo but not unexpected that she would leave Google. The re-org was kind of a slap in the face and everyone pretty much knew it. But taking this role was not what I would have expected. If Microsoft really is trying to sell its Bing unit she might be able to make a search company out of it again. Or at least a company with a native search product to power its other properties.
- jcdavis 14y agoActually I don't think the risk is all that high. If the sinking ship still sinks, then oh well. But, however small the chance, she manages to turn things around...
- RollAHardSix 14y agoRespectfully what risk does she have? She has a tremendous history with Google, even if Yahoo tanks with her at the helm, she could probably continue in at least a Senior Vice President position with almost any other company of her choosing. Not to mention she is more-then-likely financially taken-care of. At that point, 'risk' is almost negligible. It's all just 'more possibilities' for Mrs. Mayer.
- drumdance 14y agoI think it's a risk too. She's shown that she can excel in a small company undergoing hyper growth. In this case she's presenting herself as a turnaround expert. I'm surprised she didn't sign on with a pre-IPO darling like Twitter or Facebook long ago.
- ArbitraryLimits 14y ago> She's not going to suffer in compensation or reputation. Are you serious? Have you seen what's happened to Yahoo's CEOs since ... ever?
- azylman 14y agoI don't think there's a lot of reputation risk for her, here... I'm pretty sure that if Yahoo continues it's current course, the majority reaction will be "Well, Yahoo was a sinking ship anyway, there's not a lot she could have done" but if Yahoo makes a comeback she'll be hailed as a miracle worker.
- azylman 14y agoFor proof of this, see Marc Andreessen's comments in TechCrunch[1]: Andreessen also said he's "super-happy" for Mayer, because she's ready to step into a CEO role at a major tech company. But can she actually turn Yahoo around? Andressen declined to offer any suggestions for areas that the company should pursue, and he also cautioned that it's hard to think of many Web companies that succeeded in turning themselves around. "On the other hand, it's hard to overestimate how screwed Apple was in 1997," Andreessen said. "Tech comapnies can in fact be turned around. The problem is, there aren't a lot of Steve Jobs characters running around." Basically, if she makes it, she's "a Steve Jobs character" and if not, well, it's hard to turn tech companies around. [1]: http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/16/marc-andreessen-marissa-mayer-yahoo/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/16/marc-andreessen-marissa-may...
- tjmc 14y agoDon't be so sure. Nokia was a sinking ship before Elop joined and now he's wearing most of the blame. Sure, he could have hitched Nokia's wagon to Android instead. But given that Google own competitor Motorola and are selling the killer Nexus 7 at no margin, they aren't exactly an ideal partner either.
- pessimizer 14y agoNokia was stagnating before Elop, not sinking.
- azylman 14y agoAll you need to do is look at how the tech press/community is ALREADY talking about this. See the quote from Andreessen[1] that I already talked about or, alternatively, another TechCrunch article that just got published: What a time for Marissa Mayer to take control at Yahoo. She'll need all the smarts she can lay her hands on to revive an ailing Yahoo.[2] It's already being set up so that the expectation is "she'll probably fail, because ANYONE will fail" but if she succeeds she's a miracle worker or "a Steve Jobs character". [1]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4252945 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4252945 [2]: http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/16/yahoos-neglected-global-labs-network-might-hold-key-to-revival/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/16/yahoos-neglected-global-lab...
- sabat 14y agoAs someone who has been underwhelmed by Ms. Mayer since her early days at Google, I think this is just another desperate attempt to save the ailing Yahoo. It will fail, and she'll be out in less than a year.
- anmol 14y agocurious to learn why you say this?
- sabat 14y agoShe's a showboat, IMHO. This is based on personal observation and insider info. She's quick to yell about how great she is, but you don't see a lot of unbiased people talking about her contributions to technology or to Google. She has her own publicist; not from Google, mind you, this is the Marissa Mayer publicist. She apparently enjoyed keeping people lined up waiting for an appointment with her for hours. To summarize, there are a lot of signs of weak character, no signs of great leadership, and no signs of greatness at all. Yahoo's board wanted her, obviously, for the name Google. They will be disappointed.