Marissa Mayer held a company-wide meeting today at Yahoo. The purpose of the meeting was stated, in a memo to the company, as being "radically transparent" about the plans to turn Yahoo around.
It turns out much of the meeting was rather nebulous and more broad than specific or transparent. Perhaps that is because Yahoo clearly has a leak directly into Kara Swisher’s CMS or perhaps because Mayer wants the Product leads to devise their own plans for their products based on the entire company vision – either way, the details we all hoped might be coming out today didn’t.
Of course, Swisher’s sources had their own opinions of what should have been (or perhaps they hoped would be) talked about. And those things were not discussed.
But, according to numerous sources, she’ll show off plans for a radically designed home page, with fewer ads and more open to apps and sharing; better email and search; and a doubling down on Yahoo’s most powerful properties.
So, perhaps the great sources Swisher has today will not be as good as the ones she’ll need tomorrow.
I’m OK with Mayer not giving up specific details today. I don’t think Yahoo is going to be course-corrected in only a few months time. But now is when the rubber truly hits the road. Mayer just stated what the company was, what it stands for, and what it needs to do to succeed. Will it do it? It will be exciting to watch.
