Google executive Marissa Mayer has taken the top job at Yahoo!, as the internet company attempts to retake ground in the battle against competitors including Facebook.
Mayer was the 20th employee at Google, and has served in several roles, most recently on the company’s operating committee and its most profitable division, search. She originally started as a computer programmer, and was put in charge of location and local services.
The appointment means Mayer joins a short list of women executives in Silicon Valley, alongside HP’s Meg Whitman, IBM’s Virginia Rometty and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg.
Mayer’s appointment comes after former chief executive Scott Thompson resigned, following a controversy over his academic credentials.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
