Marissa Mayer isn’t leaving Google. Really. She isn’t. The New York Times says so.
In a profile on the Sunday business page, the Times reported that Mayer, Google’s vice president for search products and user experience, says she’s staying with the company.
Rumors of her departure “could not be further from the truth,” Mayer told reporter Laura M. Holson.
The speculation was, the newspaper also suggests, understandable.
Mayer, 33, the 20th employee hired and the first female engineer at Google, is closely connected to the company’s phenomenal success.
She came to then unknown start-up in 1999, having completed her masters in computer science from Stanford University, where she did her undergraduate work in symbolic systems.
In a sense, it’s surprising that she signed on with the company, not only because she had 11 other job offers, according to San Francisco magazine, but also because Google’s mission at that time was somewhat undefined.
“I’m not sure I’m able to interview you,” said Amit Patel, Google employee No. 8, “as I started this morning and I don’t know what we do yet.”
Mayer stayed with Google, prospering as the company prospered. She now oversees many of the products and functions that Internet users associate with Google, including the search engine itself.
The look of the Google home page reflects Mayer’s taste, research and leadership, as do Gmail and Google News.
For her efforts, Mayer has become a millionaire many times over, and last year she was named to the Fortune magazine list of the 50 most powerful women in the U.S.
Mayer was last on the list at No. 50, but she was also the youngest woman ever selected.
In addition, Mayer is more visible than some of her higher-ranking colleagues.
“A popular guest on TV news programs and talk shows, a Google-booster often quoted in print, and a rapid-fire presence on San Francisco’s social scene, she is the rare executive who has become - at least in the sometimes cloistered world of computer geeks - a celebrity,” wrote Holson in the Times.
All this attention may have its downside.
There’s a YouTube video devoted to Mayer’s distinctive laugh. (San Francisco magazine calls it “a nerdy, rapid fire tat-tat-tat.”)
And the Silicon Valley gossip column, Valleywag, keeps close tabs on Mayer’s personal life, including her engagement to Zachary Bogue, a lawyer and real estate investor.
Similarly, Valleywag is quick to note that Mayer once dated Google co-founder Larry Page.
And it credits Mayer’s continued influence at Google to her friendship with Page and Sergi Brin, the other co-founder.
Of course, Mayer could say in her own defense that were it not for the products she has helped create at Google, people might never have read the Valleywag blog criticizing her.
With a resume like hers, it should be easy to find another job, though, of course, she isn’t looking to leave.
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