This is only her first day on the job as CEO of Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), but Marissa Mayer is already being criticized as an unusual hire with “no real leadership experience.”
“I have to tell you, I don’t know what the Yahoo! board was thinking,” CNBC’s Herb Greenberg ranted last night. “This is a wonderful opportunity for her but this is also a remarkable challenge for someone that has no real leadership experience.”
Mayer, a former Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) executive responsible for the clean look of Google’s homepage, is an engineer and inventor credited with several patents in artificial intelligence and interface design.
Colin Gillis, the senior technology analyst at BGC Partners, told CNBC that Mayer will have “about 100 days” to prove that she is right for the job.
“She needs to come in and prove herself,” he said. “Obviously Marissa is very well-known, but she’s still going to be new as a CEO and we’re going to have to see where she is going to take it.”
Trip Chowdhry, the Managing Director of Equity Research at Global Equities Research, has expressed some concerns as well. But his worries have more to do with Yahoo!’s track record than anything else.
“This is the fifth CEO at Yahoo in five years,” Chowdhry said in e-mail update on the company. “We doubt if fifth is the charm.”
Chowdhry had previously predicted that Yahoo! shares could go to $100 under the guidance of its last chief executive, Scott Thompson. But Thompson — who came to Yahoo! after serving as the President of PayPal and the Chief Information Officer of Barclays Global Investors, among other prominent roles – lied on his resume. Thompson’s deception led to his immediate resignation.
Prior to Thompson’s appointment, Yahoo! was led by Carol Bartz, who brought shame and embarrassment to the company.
How could Mayer do any worse?
Contrary to her critics, some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful people have faith in Mayer’s ability to lead Yahoo! to success.
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