There were a couple different direction Mayer could have gone with Yahoo. Previous management was clearly considering taking Yahoo down the path of big Media,

There were a couple different direction Mayer could have gone with Yahoo. Previous management was clearly considering taking Yahoo down the path of big Media, and monetizing the eyeballs by increasing engagement, whatever that took. Mayer is hearkening back to the days of yore, when Yahoo was seen as a cool technology startup that the best engineers were excited about working at. I have no idea which of those paths is the more profitable, or has the greatest chance of returning shareholder value, but I think we all know which one has the best chance of grabbing the imagination, and attracting the best employees.