Yahoo's pursuit of a new CEO has been going on for some time, but just minutes ago, Yahoo made the official announcement that they had made their choice. They’ve selected Marissa Mayer, who previously held the distinction of being Google's (News - Alert) first woman engineer.
Mayer, who most recently served as the head of Google's Local, Maps and Location Services division, had been a part of Google since 1999, and was among the first twenty employees that Google had ever hired.
She was responsible for much of Google's development over the last decade and beyond, including a count of over 100 different features including Gmail and Google News.
Mayer described herself as "honored and delighted to lead Yahoo," which she in turn described as "one of the Internet's premier destinations for more than 700 million users." Times have been tough for Yahoo as of late, with revenue and hits dropping off against, not surprisingly, the growing user experience that Google represents.
Some believe this is why Yahoo went with Mayer in the first place – something of an unexpected decision in its own right. Some believed that Ross Levinson, Yahoo's interim CEO, would land the job.
But it's easy to see why Yahoo went with someone who'd been around since the early days of a firm that could arguably be called its primary competitor.
Given that Mayer's body of experience was unanimously acclaimed by Yahoo's Board of Directors, it's not hard to see how some have even looked at the hiring of Mayer as a sign that Yahoo wants to revitalize its user experience. What better way to improve the Yahoo user experience than by bringing in the woman who had a hand in the design of much of Google’s?
Only time will tell, of course, if this was the right move for Yahoo to make. Considering just how much Mayer has done in the industry, it's a pretty safe bet that this move will ultimately pay dividends for Yahoo, and potentially get the beleaguered company back on track.