Marissa Mayer: Google’s first female engineer to lead Yahoo!

Marissa Mayer has quit Google after 13 years to take control of Yahoo!.

At 37 years old, she is one of Google’s best known figures, while being the search giant’s first engineer. After 13 years at Google, Marissa Mayer will now take control of Yahoo! after being named their new CEO. This nomination takes effect today.

Marissa Mayer joined Google in 1999 as their 20th employee. She has led the development of some of their most important products, with it being her who developed Google’s well known white page, as well as the Google News design and Gmail.

For a long time responsible for Google’s user experience, she was recently in charge of Google’s mapping and geolocation services. Early in the year, she was even named to the board of directors of the giant distribution retailer – Wall-Mart.

As head of Yahoo!, Marissa Mayer will take over from Ross Levinsohn who has held the role in the interim following Scott Thompson’s departure after questions were raised about his CV. Last September, Carol Bartz resigned from the company after holding the CEO role.

"I am honoured and delighted to lead Yahoo!, one of the internet’s premier destinations for more than 700 million users”, Mayer said in Yahoo’s official statement. “I look forward to working with the company’s dedicated employees to bring innovative products, content, and personalized experiences to users and advertisers all around the world."

She states that she wants to concentrate on Yahoo!’s strong points, citing email, finance and sport, along with video streaming and mobile business.

This will be a real challenge to restore Yahoo! to their previous place as a Web leader following a succession of five CEO’s in five years!