The shakeups in Yahoo’s leadership positions are no secret to anyone in the tech or business world. The company has gone through 4 CEOs in a decade. Their newest CEO, the very desirable Marissa Mayer, was a prize acquisition, whom they stole from their competitor, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG).
Mayer’s appointment at Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) was a shakeup in the business world, as the 37 year old mother to be gracefully accepted her new position. She immediately set to work to make changes to Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) policies, and gave many of them a touch, which some people say could only stem from her 13 years at Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). She has incorporated employee feedback on a regular basis, as well as asked them to focus on better customer service, over increasing profits.
Now there is more news in the Yahoo world, as sources have told AllthingsD that Yahoo is on the prowl for a number 2 in its executive line. It seems the company is seeking, by seeking, I mean avidly hunting, a new COO to help enforce Mayer’s new policies, and turn the languishing company around.
Sources say that Yahoo has explicitly asked for someone with turnaround experience in the corporate world, and this seems to indicate that Mayer intends to make the company a rival to be reckoned with. According to AllthingsD, Spencer Stuart, the talent firm hired by Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) to help fill in executive leadership holes, has contacted a number of Silicon Valley Executives, as well as several from outside the tech sector.
These candidates will have to be capable of allowing Mayer to focus on products and innovation, which are her strongest suits, and they would be responsible for making everything run smoothly. It’s rumored that Mayer tends to focus on innovative new products, while she holds less interest in the more mundane parts of running a business.
Whoever they select for this position will make an important part of their executive team. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) can not afford much in the way of negativity right now, as the company is struggling to stay afloat in an ever more perilous ocean of competition. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has lost several of its managing executives since Mayer has taken the helm, including the interim CEO, Ross Levinsohn and HR head David Windley.
It appears that Mayer has been reaching out to a circle of close friends and former colleagues to try to fill some of the holes in Yahoo’s staff. It was recently reported here on ValueWalk that she was attempting to hire Katie Jacobs Stanton from Twitter. Stanton is a former colleague from Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Mayer believes she would be a valuable addition to the team at Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO).
If reports of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)’s hunt for a new COO are true, then we could see some really significant changes in the company before long. Maybe they will prove profitable to the company, and they can indeed compete with the likes of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG).
