Jolie O’ Dell, Venture Beat:
Mayer told press that the title didn’t matter to her and that she really only cared about the products she was working on; however, Google stopped showing off Mayer’s work as well. While she continued to be a fan favorite at tech conferences, she stopped appearing at the company’s press conferences and developer showcases, including Google I/O, where the company displays its most important products of the year. When she showed up at the Crunchies, Silicon Valley’s self-congratulatory awards show, she was acting as a distinguished alumna, presenting an award rather than receiving one — that honor went to Gundotra for his Google+ work.
Excellent article and a forceful rebuke to all the “why would Meyer take such a downgrade move to Yahoo” vibe that I’ve seen elsewhere on the web and my Twitter feed (I admittedly jumped in at one point.)
I don’t question Meyer’s judgement on this any more and wish her the best; it’s also great to see more women in corporate leadership positions. But can she turn Yahoo around? I doubt it.