Marissa Mayer is officially the former CEO of Yahoo Inc. after submitting her resignation Tuesday.
She also looks forward to no longer being tethered to the search engine icon’s Yahoo Mail service, multiple sources reported Thursday.
“I look forward to using Gmail again,” she reportedly said during a Founders Forum event in London. “Am always faster when using a tool I designed myself.”
Marissa Mayer at accelerateHER forum: "I look forward to using Gmail again. Am always faster when using a tool I designed myself"#FFLondon
— Wolfgang Blau (@wblau) June 14, 2017
Prior to arriving at Yahoo in July 2012 Mayer had spent 13 years at Google Inc., where she held the distinction of being the company’s 20th employee and first female engineer.
During her career at Google she rose from programming, to product manager, to director of consumer web products, and was instrumental in the development of not only Google’s signature search homepage, but AdWords, which generates the majority of its revenue to this day.
She also held key roles in Google Images, Google News, Google Maps, Google Books, – and yes, Gmail.
After several outlets reported Mayer’s comment, she later clarified that she intended to keep her Yahoo Mail account as well, noting that the team had “dramatically” improved its product.
I will continue to use the excellent Yahoo Mail too. The team's hard work paid off with a dramatically better product. https://t.co/ZQyTvjULlW
— marissamayer (@marissamayer) June 14, 2017
Though it once rivalled Google in its battle for Internet domination, Yahoo had been struggling for some time when it was announced that U.S. wireless giant Verizon had offered to purchase the company for $4.8 billion (all figures USD) last year. Two high-profile data breaches later, the company’s purchase price was reduced by $350 million.
Mayer received a $23 million severance package in stepping down as Yahoo’s CEO. In an open letter, she called it “a great honor and privilege to be a part of this team for the last 5 years,” and said that “together, we have rebuilt, reinvented, strengthened, and modernized our products, our business, and our company.”