The 37 year-old Stanford University graduate is unlikely, however, to have the same trouble thinking of issues to fix at Yahoo!, where she today took the helm as chief executive.
In its near 20-year history, the web search firm has gone from being one of the darlings of the technology industry to a basket case, arguably better known for its boardroom drama than for any new product launches. It still has a powerful brand, particularly in the US where the company was founded, but has failed to keep pace with newer, slicker rivals - or to fully gauge the extent of the threat they posed as they gobbled up market share. Yahoo! famously rebuffed a $50bn take-over offer from Microsoft back in 2008, in the belief it was still on an upward trajectory. Today, Yahoo!’s market capitalisation stands at $18.95bn.
Its share price fell another 0.18 to $15.47 in early trading in New York, as the market readied for Yahoo!’s half-year results, which are expected to be broadly flat, and digested yet another change at the top.
The company has spent the last couple of years flailing around for a new sense of direction under a succession of short-lived chief executives, teetering on the brink of pantomime. Carol Bartz, who was ousted last summer, famously marked her departure with a tirade of purple language, including accusations that the Yahoo! board had “f----- her over”. Her successor, Scott Thompson, was caught out embellishing his CV. He subsequently stepped down “for health reasons”.
With each new leader came a new strategic focus. Yahoo! was suffering an identity crisis as it worked out whether it wants to be an advertising company, a content producer or a technology business. In truth, many analysts already regard Yahoo! as having reached the point of no return. Some claim its best course of action now is simply to readjust itself for a future as one of the technology industry’s minor players. Others argue it is in its death throes and the future is managed decline.
Ms Mayer has her work cut out, and little time to get stuck in. She is six months pregnant, and she and her husband, lawyer Zachary Bogue, are due to have a son in October. However, she may well be the right person to take on this poisoned chalice. Those who have worked with her at Google say she has a brusque style and a propensity to micromanage new product launches down to every last detail, in a way that is reminiscent Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. She also has a relentless focus on the slick user-experience that helped the fledgling Google to elbow its rivals, including Yahoo!, out of the way in the first place.
She managed some of its most succesful services, including Google News and Gmail, and was part of the three-person team that developed the algorithm behind Google Ad Words, a service which has transformed the online advertising market.
“Marissa Mayer’s appointment signals a renewed focus on the company’s technology assets,” said Evercore analysts Ken Sena and Andrew McNellis.
Currently, Yahoo! licences its search technology from Microsoft, but it still retains impressive assets of its own. It owns the photo-sharing website, Flickr, and uses sophisticated algorithms to automatically tailor news pages so they show up to 13m variations a day based on individual users’ past interests.
Many investors are none-the-less spectical about why Ms Mayer would want to take on the poisoned Yahoo! chalice. Money has helped to oil the wheels of course.
Yahoo! has declined to disclose details of her compensation package but there is no doubt that Ms Mayer stands to make a fortune if she succeeds in turning Yahoo! around. And even if she doesn’t, she has already banked an estimated $300m in cash and shares during her 13-year tenure at Google.
Meanwhile, her personal trajectory at the web search giant appears to have been slowing. Ms Mayer used to head up Google’s flagship product, search, but was shuffled off to location-based services in the last restructure by chief executive Larry Page. It was significant that she described her decision to leave as “relatively easy” and that Google has chosen not to replace her.
Reviving Yahoo! – impossible a task though it might seem – would be a major feather in her cap, and the ultimate way to send a signal to her former employers. Ms Meyer doesn’t need the money anymore, but she probably does want the challenge.
Mayer was not on a call with Wall Street analysts tonight, when Yahoo! reported second-quarter profits slipped 4pc to $227m. Yahoo! shares closed down 0.3pc at $15.60.
