Kara Swisher

Recent Posts by Kara Swisher

On CEO’s First Anniversary, Yahoos Get to “ThxMarissa!” (Best Internal Memo I Ever Held.)

As many readers know, I am not one to hold back a Yahoo internal memo. So, I am glad I can finally publish this one, an effort by the events team at the Silicon Valley Internet giant to organize a surprise for its CEO Marissa Mayer on the first-year anniversary of her tenure there.

Read the memo (which I got six weeks ago and actually held, since I am a lot of things, but not a ruiner of happy surprises!): “This is your opportunity to send her a personal ‘Thank You’ message, for everything she’s done for Yahoo! over the past year. Click on this link yo/thxmarissa and send your personalized free form message to Marissa!”

Mayer was presented with the thanks at Yahoo’s all-hands meeting this past Friday, just after she gave the company’s 11,000 employees Up fitness bands as a gift.

While the memo does have a bit of a dear-leader tone, getting the stock up 73 percent from its longtime doldrums is certainly an occasion to give thanks. (Yahoos might also want to thank Jack Ma of Alibaba Group for the stellar performance by the Chinese Internet giant that has also been an important part of the share boost.)

I myself sent one to the email listed below — which I assume was edited out of the presentation — that essentially said: “ThxMarissa, for all the scoopportunities and stories, from Tumblr and every-limping-startup-in-existence acquisitions to the work-from-home mishegas to the free smartphones and food!”

In all seriousness, I will have more reporting later today on the actual results of Yahoo’s core business under Mayer over the last year — not very robust in terms of consumer engagement or revenue growth, although definitely an improvement in terms of morale and momentum. That’s ahead of tomorrow’s second-quarter earnings, which some Wall Street analysts think will not be very impressive either.

Will the sun come out tomorrow? Probably not, but enjoy this happy memo until then:

Subject: Send a Thank You to Marissa’s 1 year at Yahoo! SSSHHHH — secret message below:

Marissa’s 1st year anniversary at Yahoo! is on July 17th, 2013 and we plan to SURPRISE her with a presentation during the FYI on July 12th. This is your opportunity to send her a personal “Thank You” message, for everything she’s done for Yahoo! over the past year.

Click on this link yo/thxmarissa and send your personalized free form message to Marissa! All of the messages will be shared with her both online and in a book presentation. This is open to everyone — including contractors.

Keep in mind that this is a surprise for Marissa. Please do not post anything on DevRandom or any other communications! Don’t forget to sign your name and your site location. The moderator tool will close on June 14th. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at thxmm@yahoo-inc.com.

Thanks,

Margaret Mish, Joanne Locascio and Yahoo! Events Team

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The problem with the Billionaire Savior phase of the newspaper collapse has always been that billionaires don’t tend to like the kind of authority-questioning journalism that upsets the status quo.

— Ryan Chittum, writing in the Columbia Journalism Review about the promise of Pierre Omidyar’s new media venture with Glenn Greenwald