A Thought on Marissa Mayer

This was a Wall Street hire not a Madison Avenue hire. All about optics and long shot gambling. Board decided that getting it right on media and monetization side (Levinsohn) was not gonna be enough to pump valuation long term – needed a product game changer even if means not nailing the media stuff.
 
But as I have said, the “look and feel” (Meyer’s specialty) of Yahoo’s products isn’t the problem. Nor is popularity. So I am short this move.

This feels very much like VC investing. Ross didn't tell BoD what they wanted to hear - he was being pragmatic. Marissa, with nothing to lose, glides in and promises the moon, makes BoD happy.

More on this from Mike Shields in AdWeek: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/open-letter-marissa-mayer-141972