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Sleepy Marissa Mayer said to miss marketing opportunity

At a time when ad revenue is increasingly important, the Yahoo CEO reportedly keeps high-level marketing executives waiting for hours because she overslept.

Dara Kerr Former senior reporter
Dara Kerr was a senior reporter for CNET covering the on-demand economy and tech culture. She grew up in Colorado, went to school in New York City and can never remember how to pronounce gif.
Dara Kerr
2 min read

Marissa Mayer
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. Screenshot by CNET

Being CEO of a major tech company has got to be tiring -- something that Yahoo's Marissa Mayer demonstrated last week.

Mayer was scheduled to attend a private dinner last Tuesday in which she was supposed to rub shoulders with some high-level advertising executives, according to The Wall Street Journal. But, she was two hours late because she reportedly overslept.

While Mayer oversleeping for a meeting isn't necessarily newsworthy, it is significant because missing face time with marketers -- when Yahoo is working to strengthen ad revenue -- could have adverse effects for the company.

During the dinner, Mayer was supposed to tell potential clients the value of advertising with Yahoo, according to the Journal. But, by the time she arrived, several of the executives had reportedly already left.

"If it were an investor meeting, a board meeting or a potential acquisition, I am sure she or someone from her team would have woken her up," one top executive told the Journal. "It is another instance where she demonstrated that she doesn't understand the value of clients, ad revenue or agencies."

When CNET contacted Yahoo for more information, a spokesperson said, "We aren't commenting on the story other than to say that we value our partnership with IPG and all of our advertisers."

In 2013, Yahoo lost its No. 2 spot for digital ad sales in the US behind Google, when Facebook took its position for the first time, according to the research firm eMarketer. Also, in January, Yahoo reported a 6 percent decline in display ad revenue from the same quarter the previous year.

Mayer introduced a new advertising exchange to consolidate its ad offerings in January -- but seeing if that change bears fruit will first take some time on the market.

Updated June 24 at 3:40 p.m. PT with comment from Yahoo spokesperson.