Surprise! Yahoo grabs Google's top woman as new boss, starts today
The woman who joined Google in 1999 as employee No. 20, is the new boss of Yahoo. Marissa Mayer's capture is "a huge coup for Yahoo," US commentators said yesterday.
Marissa Mayer: new Yahoo CEO
And there's no hanging out about for Marissa. She starts work today - with congratulations from Google boss Larry Page ringing in her ears.
Mayer, 37, has been Google's most prominent female executive, often speaking at big tech conferences about Google's products.
She has been responsible for the look and feel of Google's most popular products, said CNET -- not just its main search homepage, but Gmail, Google News and Google Images.
A Stanford computer science graduate, she has been behind the launch of more than 100 Google products and features, according to Yahoo.
She has a tough job ahead of her. During the first quarter of 2012, Yahoo brought in $1.077 billion, a mere 1 percent more than the year-earlier period.
Just last September Carol Bartz was ousted as CEO after less than three years .She had spent 14 years as the CEO of Autodesk.
Mayer has great experience in search and consumer web products -- Yahoo's key areas.
Acting CEO Ross Levinsohn , who has impressed many with his dynamism since stepping into the role after Scott Thompson left abruptly over resume problems , had been thought of as a possible CEO candidate himself , especially after he ended litigation with Facebook earlier this month .
Yahoo has also recently hired Michael Barrett of Google as executive vice president and chief revenue officer. He had been chief executive of online-advertising firm Admeld before joining Google last year .
The New York Times said Mayer, although well-established at Google wasn't on track to be elevated to a C-level executive. So it wasn't a surprise that she was looking elsewhere.