After slightly more than three years as Yahoo chief, the honeymoon seems to be over for Mayer, who is the latest in a line of chief executives who have tried to restore Yahoo to its former glory.
Despite her lack of experience running a large internet firm, investors embraced Mayer as a young engineer with proven credentials at Google and a fashionably glamorous image.
She was welcomed as a saviour after Yahoo was eclipsed by Google and left to wither in its shadow. An array of senior Yahoo executives have jumped ship in recent months, and some industry observers question how much longer chief executive Marissa Mayer will remain at the helm.
A headline “The last days of Marissa Mayer ” topped an article on Forbes magazine's website on Thursday. If Yahoo's core business continues to deteriorate, “there is a good chance that in 12 months from now, Marissa Mayer may not be there,” SunTrust analyst Bob Peck told CNBC. BGC Financial's Gillis added that “it's a difficult business to turn around. It's a company that fundamentally needs to be restructured, and it's not her field of expertise.” Several analysts, however, contend that just replacing Mayer will not right Yahoo's listing ship. “The job of the CEO is to innovate; to outsmart competition, to invest,” Global Equities analyst Trip Chowdhry told AFP. “It is not her job to find a way to dodge paying taxes.” Chowdhry saw Mayer as the right person for the job because she understands the technology. If someone needs to go, Chowdhry reasoned, it is chief financial officer Ken Goldman who is “not making the right decision.”
Silicon Valley analyst Robert Enderle faulted the Yahoo board, and not Mayer, for lack of turn-around momentum.
“They knew she was going to have a steep learning curve and didn't back her up well at all,” Enderle said. “The right board likely could direct Mayer more successfully and avoid the disruption and cost of replacing yet one more CEO.” Mayer made a priority of tailoring Yahoo offerings to modern mobile lifestyles. On her watch, widely used products such as Yahoo Mail were modernized. Mayer also went on something of a startup buying binge, mostly using Alibaba money being pumped into Yahoo's coffers, in addition to launching a series of digital magazines.