Former Yahoo COO slams media coverage of Marissa Mayer as 'remarkably unfair'

Dan Rosensweig, the CEO of Chegg and ex-COO of Yahoo, isn't too happy with some of the media coverage Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has received lately.

In an interview with Bloomberg's Emily Chang on Thursday, Rosensweig said that a lot of the press reports on Mayer have been "unfair," pointing out she shouldn't be under that kind of attack.

"I think a lot of what has been said has been remarkably unfair," Rosensweig said. "Unfortunately, some of these things are fair game whether she likes it or not."

Rosensweig pointed to recent stories about Yahoo spending over half a million dollars on Mayer's security as examples of unfair coverage, saying it "doesn't really matter" for public investors. Last week, Yahoo disclosed in a public filing for its annual shareholder meeting that it spent $544,061 on Mayer's security due to "specific security threats that we believed were credible."

Instead, Rosensweig believes the press should focus on the bigger story around Mayer.

"She should not be under this kind of attack by anybody. That's the story that should be written. Nobody chooses to write it. Why is a CEO under this kind of attack?" he said.

Rosensweig played a major role at Yahoo from 2002 to 2006, a period when the company grew its userbase from 200 million to 500 million, and its annual revenue from $700 million to roughly $4.5 billion. Although he left the company after a management shake up, Rosensweig continues to be involved in some ways, as he's now advising Quicklen Loans founder Dan Gilbert's bid over Yahoo's core internet business.

"I care a great deal about the company, as do many former Yahoos. And so when there are high quality people interested in understanding the business, we're all happy to help them understand the business," Rosensweig said.