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Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO, Reveals Company's 'Biggest Problem'

LISTEN: Marissa Mayer Reveals Yahoo's 'Biggest Problem'
By 

Freelance journalist

Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, attends a session of the World Economic Forum 2013 Annual Meeting on January 25, 2013 at the Swiss resort of Davos. The World Economic Forum (WEF) is taking place from January 23 to 27. AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE (Photo credit should read JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)
Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, attends a session of the World Economic Forum 2013 Annual Meeting on January 25, 2013 at the Swiss resort of Davos. The World Economic Forum (WEF) is taking place from January 23 to 27. AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE (Photo credit should read JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)

Put simply, Yahoo needs more clicks.

At the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference Tuesday afternoon, the struggling company's CEO Marissa Mayer told a group of investors that the company's "biggest problem is impressions."

"Impressions" is industry jargon describing the number of times an ad appears on a webpage. Ad clicks generate ad dollars, and ad dollars help keep Yahoo in business.

That business has been rough these past few years. The company circled through four CEOs in five years before 37-year-old Mayer landed on the scene nearly six months ago. Her appointment came amid dark days for Yahoo, only three months after the Internet behemoth laid off 2,000 employees.

Mayer told investors at the conference that much of her time is spent looking to grow readership. "A lot of my time has to be focused on products, on delighting our users, on inspiring them," she said. Mayer also pointed to the company's mobile strategy as a natural area for growth, something she had emphasized in her first public interview as Yahoo CEO.

Listen to the rest of Mayer's webcast Q&A at the conference here.

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Before You Go

1
Advice To Job Hunting Women
"Find something you're passionate about and just love. Passion is really gender-neutralizing," Marissa Mayer said on Martha Stewart's "Women with Vision" television series in 2011.
2
The Pie 'Isn't Big Enough'
"Right now is a great time to be a woman in tech, but there's not enough women in tech," Mayer told a CES2012 panel hosted by CNET. "[I] worry a lot of times the conversation gets really focused on what percentage of the pie is women. And the truth is, the pie isn't big enough. We're not producing enough computer scientist. We're not producing enough product designers. We need a lot more people to keep up with all of these gadgets, all of this technology, all these possibilities."Mayer also commented on the stereotypical culture within the tech world: "There's all kinds of different women who do this. You can wear ruffles, you can be a jock, and you still be a great computer scientist or a great technologist, or a great product designer."
3
Tangible Technology
"There's just huge growth and opportunity. [T]he fact that the technology is now so tangible in our everyday lives, I think, will inspire a lot more women to go into technology -- and I'm really heartened by that," Mayer said for the MAKERS "Women in Tech" interview series in 2012.
4
Internet Empowered
"I consider myself incredibly lucky to be present in a moment in time when this wonderful and powerful medium, the internet, is empowering geeks -- and especially female geeks -- to express and pursue their passions," Meyer said in a 2012 acceptance speech at the Celebrating Change gala. She had just won the International Museum of Women's first-ever Innovator Award.
5
Geekin' Out
"People ask me all the time, 'What is it like to be a woman at Google?' I'm not a women at Google; I'm a geek at Google. And being a geek is just great," she said in an interview for CNN's "Leading Women" series in 2012.
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