Top 6 highlights from Marissa Mayer’s first year at Yahoo [Photos]
Marissa Mayer kicked off her tenure at Yahoo one year ago -- on July 17, 2012, to be exact. Since then, she has changed company culture, revamped faltering services and purchased notable new ones.
To say Mayer’s time as Yahoo chief executive has been eventful would be an understatement. From announcing her pregnancy right off the bat to her billion-dollar purchase of Tumblr, Mayer is leaving a mark on Yahoo. Here are her biggest moments and accomplishments since joining the company.
Historic pregnancy
On the same day her hiring was announced, Mayer also posted on Twitter that she would be having a baby. The announcement was a stunner, as Mayer became the first pregnant chief executive of a Fortune 500 company. Mayer had baby Macallister a few months later.
Ends telecommuting
Mayer made a big change to company culture and kicked off a national debate in February when she banned Yahoo employees from working from home. The company said it was sacrificing speed and quality by allowing some to work from home, but others outside Yahoo saw the ban as a shot against working mothers, saying telecommuting is one of the few ways women can maintain a career and care for their kids at the same time.
Buys Summly, many others
With Mayer as chief executive, Yahoo has been on a shopping spree. The company says it has acquired 17 companies since Mayer arrived. Among them was the $30-million purchase of Summly, a startup by 17-year-old entrepreneur Nick D’Aloisio that automatically created summaries of news articles. Summly was Mayer’s first flashy acquisition, but her biggest one came in May and cost more than a billion dollars.
Buys Tumblr for $1.1 billion
Mayer’s biggest move in her first year came in May when Yahoo doled out $1.1 billion to buy Tumblr, a popular social network. The acquisition was a way to give Yahoo access to a younger audience. Mayer also committed to not “screw up” the social network by leaving its founder David Karp in charge and letting Tumblr operate independently.
Revamps Flickr, other apps
On the same day the Tumblr acquisition was announced, Mayer and company also revealed a major redesign for Flickr, a company Yahoo bought long ago that had severely lost its step. Yahoo redid Flickr’s home page and announced it would give users 1 terabyte of storage space. Earlier in Mayer’s tenure, Yahoo also revamped Flickr’s mobile app, making it more of a direct competitor with Instagram. However, Mayer hasn’t stopped with Flickr. The Yahoo home page, mail app and others have seen facelifts since she arrived.
Beefs up staff with notable hires
Mayer has also tried to improve Yahoo by hiring top people in the tech field. Most recently, Mayer hired designer Marissa Louie, a former Apple employee, and perhaps most notably, she hired away Henrique De Castro, Google’s top sales executive, from her former company in October.
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