At TechCrunch Disrupt, Yahoo's CEO said the once-troubled company's user base is growing rapidly, most on mobile. She also said the company just passed 800 million monthly mobile users. September 11, 2013 3:31 PM PDT Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer at TechCrunch Disrupt 2013 in San Francisco. (Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET) SAN FRANCISCO--Yahoo's user base has grown 20 percent in the last year, CEO Marissa Mayer said today. During an on-stage TechCrunch Disrupt "fireside chat" with TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, Mayer, who took over as Yahoo's CEO last year, said that the company has just passed 800 million monthly mobile users, and that most of the company's recent growth -- which does not include users and traffic from Yahoo's acquisition of Tumblr -- has come because of mobile users. Arrington pointed out that Yahoo's stock has nearly doubled since Mayer took over the company's top job, adding about $14 billion in stock value. Mayer said that while some of that growth has been due to smart investments by her predecessors, such as former CEO Jerry Yang's investment in the Chinese search firm Alibaba, much has also been due to the company's new focus on four things: hiring the right people, growing traffic, releasing great products, and boosting revenue. As a result of that focus, Yahoo's revenue is up, albeit just 1 percent, Mayer said. Mayer also talked about other evidence that Yahoo has regained the mojo that once made it an Internet powerhouse. For example, she said, the company now gets about 12,000 job applications a week, roughly equal to one for every current Yahoo employee. As well, she said, about 10 percent of the company's hires over the last year have been what she called "boomerangs:" former Yahoo employees being brought back into the fold. That number is impressive, given that over the last few years, as Yahoo's products stagnated, it suffered through numerous leadership changes, and employees raced to leave for jobs at places like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Few could have predicted that so many former Yahoo people would choose to return so soon after Mayer took the helm. Stay tuned for more from Mayer's Disrupt interview.
At TechCrunch Disrupt, Yahoo's CEO said the once-troubled company's user base is growing rapidly, most on mobile. She also said the company just passed 800 million monthly mobile users.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer at TechCrunch Disrupt 2013 in San Francisco.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)
SAN FRANCISCO--Yahoo's user base has grown 20 percent in the last year, CEO Marissa Mayer said today.
During an on-stage TechCrunch Disrupt "fireside chat" with TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, Mayer, who took over as Yahoo's CEO last year, said that the company has just passed 800 million monthly mobile users, and that most of the company's recent growth -- which does not include users and traffic from Yahoo's acquisition of Tumblr -- has come because of mobile users.
Arrington pointed out that Yahoo's stock has nearly doubled since Mayer took over the company's top job, adding about $14 billion in stock value. Mayer said that while some of that growth has been due to smart investments by her predecessors, such as former CEO Jerry Yang's investment in the Chinese search firm Alibaba, much has also been due to the company's new focus on four things: hiring the right people, growing traffic, releasing great products, and boosting revenue.
As a result of that focus, Yahoo's revenue is up, albeit just 1 percent, Mayer said.
Mayer also talked about other evidence that Yahoo has regained the mojo that once made it an Internet powerhouse. For example, she said, the company now gets about 12,000 job applications a week, roughly equal to one for every current Yahoo employee. As well, she said, about 10 percent of the company's hires over the last year have been what she called "boomerangs:" former Yahoo employees being brought back into the fold.
That number is impressive, given that over the last few years, as Yahoo's products stagnated, it suffered through numerous leadership changes, and employees raced to leave for jobs at places like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Few could have predicted that so many former Yahoo people would choose to return so soon after Mayer took the helm.
Stay tuned for more from Mayer's Disrupt interview.
