Few would argue that Marissa Mayer has done a good job in returning Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) to relevance in the 14 months that she has held the position of CEO. Prior to her arrival, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) seemed a rudderless ship with numerous captains over the last five years. During this period, the stock had continued to fall until Mayer arrived. While some would argue, somewhat chauvinistically, that she is proof that women love to shop with the spate of acquisitions the company has made since she arrived, it’s difficult to argue that she doesn’t have a clear path in mind for the company.
Unless of course, you are referring to Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)’s efforts in media and news. Mayer came in committed to embracing its core products, mail, search, and other tech-focused areas, as well as making a bigger push in mobile. As a result, media was pushed to the back burner and a company I’m told still exists, American Online, rushed in to fill the breach created by Yahoo backing off in this area.
Yahoo has brought in Megan Liberman to oversee a major expansion
That, however, created a surprising flood of traffic to AOL, something that Mayer pledged to correct. She personally sought out Katie Couric and Conde Naste in order to secure deals with them for media content.
Now, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has brought in Megan Liberman, most recently the deputy news editor of The New York Times, to oversee a “major expansion” for Yahoo News. Liberman began her job earlier today.
“Megan is a dynamic addition to the Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) News team,” said Robertson Barrett, vice president of Yahoo News and Finance, in a statement. “She is a natural fit to lead editorial for the world’s largest news site, and she will help us take Yahoo News to the next level.” Yahoo fancies itself the largest site for Internet news in the world.
Her predecessor, Yahoo News’ previous editor in chief, Hillary Frey, left in March after holding the position for less than a year.
Yahoo recently unveiled a new logo that Mayer believes shows “a renewed sense of purpose and progress at Yahoo.” In addition to the ramped-up direct hiring that Yahoo has been involved in, its acquisitions (21 companies) under Mayer, Liberman’s hiring shows that Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) is clearly headed somewhere.
