During her tenure as Chief Executive Officer, Marissa Mayer has done more at Yahoo than her previous five predecessors. She has steered Yahoo through a good quarter for the first time in the company’s last four years. In a call with analysts, Ms. Mayer attributed the growth to a redirected focus on the people and the products.
Yahoo has made improvements to the Yahoo email service and Flickr service, which has seen usage increase 25% after a redesign of the photo upload service. “We are off to a very good start,” Ms. Mayer told analysts. The CEO is looking to make the product experiences more entertaining and inspiring for users.
Employees working at Yahoo are being reengaged by a different type of leadership under Ms. Mayer. The workers who once feared layoffs are now receiving perks with their employment, like Android powered devices and iPhones. Signs of the troubled past are steadily moving behind the company. Another move that shows stability for the company is the recent hiring of Max Levchin, co-founder of Pay Pal, to the Yahoo board.
Ms. Mayer talked about how more personalized contact and product innovation would be key to getting them back on track for display revenue growth. Yahoo’s display ad revenue declined 3% this year versus the same quarter a year ago. Yahoo has nearly 700,000,000 monthly users and controls of one of the largest audiences on the web. Many are looking forward to seeing how Ms. Mayer can convert those users into profits for the company’s future success.
Some of Yahoo’s future growth may come from recent mobile acquisitions that have recently taken place with startup companies, such as Stamped, OnTheAir and Snip.it. Many believe the road to Yahoo’s transformation will be long and hard. Everyone is looking forward to Ms. Mayer navigating the company in the right direction, unlike Scott Thompson, the previous CEO who only lasted for four months before leaving Yahoo.
