Yahoo made a dramatic announcement early this morning, poaching one of Google's most widely recognised senior executives, Marissa Mayer, to take over as CEO.
The much troubled giant of the internet has had a series of CEOs in recent years, who have done little to renew the company's focus and future. Yahoo had been expected to announce Ross Levinsohn as CEO, after a short period as acting CEO. With the announcement of Mayer, Yahoo has gained some serious Silicon Valley star power and a strong positive sentiment for what is to come.
Mayer was Google's 20th employee and its first female, joining the company back in 1999. While Mayer has no experience as a CEO (she started her career as a programmer), she has been a driving force behind Google's consumer products. She gave Google's search homepage its look and feel, along with other products, from Gmail to Google News. According to Yahoo, Mayer has been the force behind more than 100 Google product launches.
Mayer's presence at Yahoo is a powerful draw card for other internet talent, and signals exciting times at the company.
For the first time in a long time, it seems that Yahoo might have some positive stories and genuine direction to talk about in the year ahead.
More details on Marissa Mayer's appointment as Yahoo CEO can be found here.