Mayer said she believes Yahoo's Internet business in significantly better shape than when she arrived, largely because it is pulling in more traffic and advertising in the increasingly important smartphone and tablet market. Even so, Yahoo's net revenue declined by 8 percent from the prior year in the third quarter and an even steeper decline is forecast for the current quarter ending in December.
When Yahoo announces those fourth-quarter results next month, Mayer also plans to unveil a shake-up that is supposed to jettison the company's least profitable products and likely will lead to layoffs.
It will be the latest overhaul of a company that is now on its fifth full-time CEO in the past decade, all of whom have struggled to define what Yahoo's mission should be. In the backdrop, Yahoo also has had to ward off a hostile takeover bid from Microsoft Corp. and quell shareholder uprisings spearheaded by activist investors Carl Icahn and Daniel Loeb. Another activist shareholder, Jeff Smith of the New York hedge fund Starboard Value, had threatened to lead a mutiny if Yahoo's board hadn't backed off from the Alibaba spinoff.
"The narrative around Yahoo and our valuation is complicated," Mayer said Wednesday during an appearance on the financial news channel CNBC.
The handling of the Alibaba stake is crucial to Yahoo shareholders because of the money involved. If Yahoo is taxed on the gains in its original $1 billion investment, the bill would exceed more than $10 billion
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