Can Mayer shake up Yahoo?

When Marissa Mayer agreed to join Yahoo from rival Google on Monday, she would have been fully aware of the task that faced her.

Announcing their quarterly figures yesterday, Yahoo’s revenues and net income were at similar levels to the previous year, although at $1.22bn and $228.5m respectively, were better than many analysts had predicted.

The internet giant has failed to grab a significant niche online, attempting to cover as many services as possible, not particularly well, as opposed to just one. In contrast, Mayer’s former employers developed their business around her former department, search, and grew into other areas from there.

It is Yahoo’s identity that has proven problematic for the Silicon Valley firm, with the company offering traditional online services like search and email, alongside media and content. It is hoped that Mayer, 37, will be able to bring some of the magic that helped Google to become such a significant player online and to attract advertisers back to Yahoo’s platform.

Upon joining, Mayer said: “Yahoo has a very healthy search advertising and display advertising business. I’m interested in what Yahoo can do with video and mobile, both of which are very promising.”

However, she is the fifth chief executive to head the firm in the last five years, and so finding a clear path in such a muddled company may prove an insurmountable challenge, not least with the news that she joins with the added challenge of being pregnant.