A new book details how Google employees mocked Marissa Mayer on an internal meme page when she quit for Yahoo

Marissa Mayer

Marissa Mayer was mocked by her former colleagues at Google on an internal meme page after announcing she was leaving to take the top job at Yahoo.
A post circulated on Google's internal website, Memegem, congratulated her on taking a role at a 'non-profit'.
Mayer left Yahoo in 2017 after overseeing a period of slowing growth, internal dissent, and plummeting employee morale.
The story is recounted in "Always Day One", the new book by BuzzFeed reporter Alex Kantrowitz, on sale now.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

When Marissa Meyer announced she was leaving Google for the CEO job at Yahoo, Googlers mocked her on the company's internal meme site.

Sarcastic messages congratulated her on taking over "a non-profit". Yahoo was a huge internet property at the time, but its star was on the wane since the rise of Google.

Memegem, an internal notorious among Google employees, has a reputation for hosting cruel jokes at the expense of business leaders, including former Nest CEO Tony Fadell.

In "Always Day One: How the Tech Titans Stay on Top", the new book by BuzzFeed reporter Alex Kantrowitz, he reveals how Googlers mocked Mayer after she quit the company in 2012.

"When I visited Google, I saw memes praising [current CEO Sundar] Pichai for his testimony before Congress, joking about the company's promotion criteria, and apologizing for an email that accident went out to the entire company," Kantrowitz wrote. "When Marissa Mayer left Google to become CEO of the struggling Yahoo, the top Memegem post was a picture of her accompanied by the text: 'Accomplished tech leader, finally leading a non-profit.'"

Hopes were high when Marissa Mayer was hired as CEO of Yahoo in 2012, with many thinking she would be able to turn around the struggling internet giant.

Five years later, and Mayer's time at Yahoo was marred by slowing growth and internal dissent, leading to plummeting employee morale and calls for her resignation. She resigned from the company as soon as its sale to Verizon was finalized, and left with a $23 million severance package.

Now, Mayer is focusing on her newest venture, a startup called Lumi Labs. She's shown interest in opening a women's club at a former funeral home in Palo Alto, where she once threw lavish parties for the Silicon Valley elite.

Mayer is an active angel investor with over 24 investments under her belt, according to Crunchbase. But she's still more interested in being a CEO than in being an investor, she said in 2017.

"Always Day One", published by Penguin Business, is available to buy now.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Jeff Bezos reportedly just spent $165 million on a Beverly Hills estate — here are all the ways the world's richest man makes and spends his money