Yahoo hopes new CEO will help get company back on track

CNN News - The tech world is buzzing about Yahoo’s newest CEO and former Google employee Marissa Mayer as the clock ticks down on the company’s life-support.

Valley insiders believe Mayer’s reputation as a product leader will lift the company’s sagging brand and increase recruiting, one of the company’s biggest problems.

Mayer, 37, graduated with a degree in Computer Science from Stanford. She went on to become Google’s first female engineer in 1999 and was an integral part of its success; success that helped to make competitors like Yahoo less relevant.

As if tackling Yahoo’s many challenges including stock price drop, lost focus and consequent laying-off of thousands of employees isn’t enough to keep Mayer busy, she is expected to have her first child, a boy, in October.

Mayer said she plans on having a quick maternity leave and then heading straight back to the office.

Mayer told Fortune Magazine that the Yahoo board expressed no reservations about her ability to juggle both motherhood and the demands of the job. Mayer said it showed the board's “evolved thinking.”

Despite Mayer’s impressive credentials not everyone is convinced Yahoo can be saved. Dave McClure runs a company that invests in small startup companies.

“Generally speaking I think they've been losing the race pretty badly to Google in search,” McClure said. “I think they've been losing the battle in email and other areas.”