Google's Marissa Mayer Surprisingly Named Yahoo CEO

Marissa Mayer will be Yahoo's fourth CEO in four years. Photo by Getty Images

Marissa Mayer, one of the most visible Google executive and one of the first two dozen employees at the search giant, has been appointed CEO of the struggling Yahoo.

Mayer, 37, will become the firm's third CEO in the space of a year.

In a statement released by Yahoo, Mayer said she was "honored and delighted" to lead the company.

"I look forward to working with the company's dedicated employees to bring innovative products, content, and personalised experiences to users and advertisers all around the world," Mayer said.

Mayer resigned from Google via telephone on Monday, according to a report in The New York Times.

Meanwhile Mayer broke another piece of good news on Twitter, saying she and her husband Zack Bogue are expecting a son in October.

Mayer's choice as Yahoo's CEO was not expected not only because Interim CEO Ross Levinsohn was widely considered to be the leading candidate for the job. A lot of people also did not believe that Yahoo could get someone of the caliber of a Marissa Mayer to become the CEO at this stage.

She takes over at a tumultuous time for a fading Web icon: She is the company's fourth CEO in less than four years.

"There's a lot to do," Mayer told Fortune's Patricia Sellers moments after Yahoo announced her appointment. She is starting her new job on Tuesday, just hours before Yahoo is slated to release its latest quarterly earnings report.

Yahoo had been in need of a leader since May, when Scott Thompson stepped down after accusations that he put a fake computer degree on his CV. In September 2011, CEO Carol Bartz was fired after two-and-a-half years in the post.

Yahoo has struggled in the face of increased competition from search rivals including Google and the emergence of social giants such as Facebook.

Marissa Mayer becomes one of very few women in Silicon Valley to rise to the top of a major technology firm.

Mayer joined Google in 1999 as the company's first female engineer.

A former computer science student at California's Stanford University, she was the fledgling company's 20th employee.

She worked on creating the Google search engine and the company's widely-recognised home page.

More recently, Mayer has been in charge of the technology giant's location and mapping services, which include Google Maps, Earth, Local and Street View.

She has been credited with shaping much of the "look and feel" of Google's user experience.

Mayer currently serves on the boards of Walmart, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Ballet and New York City Ballet. She will also join Yahoo's board.

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