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Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer
Yahoo insiders say Mayer's style as a micromanager and the lack of a coherent strategy have prevented the internet company from accomplishing the big comeback that many were hoping for when Mayer was hired three years ago, Forbes' Miguel Helft writes.
The situation hit a low point in October, when an offsite meeting of Yahoo's top brass in a ritzy San Francisco hotel devolved into a chaotic scene in which a speaker was heckled by colleagues, Helft writes. In a chorus of curses, some VPs reportedly attacked their superiors for not listening or understanding.
The discontent at Yahoo has been building for some time, with a wave of recent executive departures and rising criticisms over Mayer's management style, as Business Insider previously reported. Mayer's attempts to portray those departures as the result of "careful planning" to better the company proved especially galling to some.
According to Forbes, Yahoo's efforts to reorganize its product teams around mobile services was a slow, protracted process that damaged morale. And Mayer's style of micromanaging, which some said requires that execs wait for personal emails from Mayer approving certain compensation and hiring matters, is also a big source of frustration.
With Yahoo's business languishing, and the spinoff of its Asian assets in question, there is growing speculation about how long Mayer will last in the top job. Forbes notes that some Yahoo insiders speculate Mayer could call it quits as soon as December, using the birth of her twins at that time as the opportunity to make a graceful exit.
If she does leave, Mayer will become the latest in a long list of high-profile executives who have taken the CEO job at Yahoo and left amid growing investor and internal discontent.