Marissa Mayer has been virtually synonymous with Yahoo ever since she took the helm, but things are about to get a bit muddier now that the Verizon’s acquisition is near closing. Yahoo has announced that Mayer, co-founder David Filo and four other people are resigning from the company’s board of directors once Verizon officially takes control. According to the SEC filing, it’s “not due to any disagreement” with how the business is run — it’s just that Yahoo will technically be considered an investment company once the buyout wraps up, and doesn’t believe it needs more than five people on its board after that.
The shakeup will also see Yahoo change the name of the post-acquisition company, which will hold Alibaba assets (that is, the part of the company that isn’t going to Verizon), to Altaba. Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it? This move had been planned since the acquisition was made public, but the name wasn’t certain until now.
It’s not explicitly mentioned why Mayer is exiting the board, but it’s likely just because she has no reason to help manage an investment firm — that’s not why she became Yahoo’s CEO. Still, it’s a symbolic move. Given that Mayer also won’t lead the part of Yahoo that’s merging with Verizon (that’s up to the telecom’s Marni Walden), this effectively marks the end of her leadership at Yahoo. She’ll still be around in the Verizon era, but it won’t be the same now that she isn’t calling all the shots. Not that she’ll necessarily mind given Yahoo’s extremely rough 2016.
*Verizon has acquired AOL, Engadget’s parent company. However, Engadget maintains full editorial control, and Verizon will have to pry it from our cold, dead hands.
