Marissa Mayer, former CEO of Yahoo, shared rare insights on the company's struggles and its eventual demise
During a recent interview Wired, Mayer, who led Yahoo from 2012 to 2017, attributed the company's failure to its delayed transition to mobile.
"Timing is everything,” she said.
Mayer further added, "Yes, taking all those Yahoo products and putting them on mobile was a good idea, but it needed to happen five to eight years earlier than it did.”
Mayer joined Yahoo from Google in 2012 and there were expectations that she could turn around the company.
Despite efforts, Yahoo continued to falter and ultimately Verizon bought Yahoo for nearly $5 billion in 2016.
Mayer stepped down from her position after the was deal closed and she now serves as a cofounder of tech startup Sunshine.
During the interview, Mayer recalled a compliment that Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang gave her at the end of her tenure.
“He said Yahoo's product line had never been in better shape," she said, adding, “That's a compliment I hold dear,"
"But it was just too late,” Mayer added.
