While not surprising - her departure had been floated previously - moments ago ReCode confirmed that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer "will not be continuing with the new company that was announced today prematurely in a tweet by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong today."
Perhaps what is more surprising is the name of said pro forma company, which according to Kara Swisher will be called "Oath", and will be headed by Armstrong.
Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017. pic.twitter.com/tM3Ac1Wi36
— Tim Armstrong (@timarmstrongaol) April 3, 2017
As Recode adds, it will also be interesting to see if she gets the full pay-out she is owed, after the recent hacking disaster and the general downturn in Yahoo’s business during her tenure.
Some other details on the transition:
Armstrong is now close to making choices on which top Yahoo execs in Silicon Valley to keep and which to bid farewell too. Likely to stay, for example, is communications products head Jeff Bonforte; and likely to go is Adam Cahan, who has run a number of units under Mayer. On the bubble still: CRO Lisa Utzschneider (she wants to be a CEO apparently) and Enrique Muñoz Torres, who heads advertising and search product and engineering. CFO Ken Goldman is also departing, although on his own steam as has been expected since the Verizon-owned Oath is lousy with financial types in New York.
Finally, Oath's leadership in Sunnyvale will supposedly be a mix of Yahoo and AOL execs and will focus on product and engineering for the entire combined company.