After more than 20 years as one of the most world’s most iconic tech companies, Yahoo sold its Internet assets to Verizon last week for $4.83 billion, a fraction of the $44 billion that Microsoft’s then C.E.O. Steve Ballmer offered for the company eight years ago. Much of the blame, whether justified or not, has fallen on Marissa Mayer, whose tenure as C.E.O. began four years ago with ambitious goals to turn around Yahoo. But at least until the deal closes in the next six to nine months, Mayer remains in charge
And she has no plans to leave, according to a new interview with Bloomberg. “I plan to stay. I love the company, and I want to see it go into its next chapter,” Mayer said. That may come as a surprise to AOL boss Tim Armstrong, Mayer’s former rival at Google, who is widely expected to replace her when Yahoo’s assets are folded into Verizon’s. Recode’s Kara Swisher and The New York Times have both reported that Mayer will not make the transition, though a massive golden parachute should take the edge off. Either way, there’s arguably no place for Mayer at a Verizon-owned Yahoo. Mayer, who has been criticized for spending $3 billion on acquisitions since 2012 most notably dropping $1.1 billion on the microblogging platform turned de facto porn aggregator Tumblr and millions on expensive hires of employees like ad man Henrique de Castro, who made $109 million for 15 paltry months of work, has likely burnt through any lingering goodwill. Mayer tried to turn Yahoo into a 21st-century tech company that got mobile, but she never quite got there.
More insulting than Mayer’s insistence that she’ll stay at the company she helped drive into the ground is her pat explanation for why Yahoo failed to grasp mobile. “There were moments in the early 2000s that people didn’t understand where Yahoo ended and the Internet began. It’s hard to transition mediums and end up with the same mindshare,” Mayer told Bloomberg. She goes on to say that the sale to Verizon is a good outcome for Yahoo because it satisfies shareholders. “We had shareholders with two different priorities. The Verizon acquisition is a way we can kill two birds with one stone,” she said. Fortunately for shareholders, it’s the board and Verizon who will decide Mayer’s fate in the end. Should Mayer leave, she could snag $55 million in severance, on top of the $162.1 million she’s earned during her time as C.E.O. That should ease the sting of a four-year failed turnaround attempt at the world’s largest decaying web directory.
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Date: August 04, 2016