The 25 Blockbuster IT Executive Moves Of 2012

Marissa Mayer

As tech giant defections go, it was a doozy: Marissa Mayer, who was Google's 20th employee and something of a celebrity executive, became Yahoo's surprise choice for a new CEO in July. Mayer is the fifth CEO of Yahoo in the span of a year, following the firing of Carol Bartz, the replacement of interim CEO and former CFO Tim Morse, the hiring and then ouster of Scott Thompson, who was found to have falsified his academic record, and the replacement of Ross Levinsohn, who was named interim CEO and at one point was thought to have the inside track for the permanent CEO post.