Perhaps Yahoo chief Marissa Mayer would blame it on the jet lag or having a toddler, but she reportedly overslept and missed key meetings at the Cannes advertising festival.
The festival, where executives meet with high-ranking media buyers and advertisers, is a must for those looking to make connections, unless you miss those meetings, according to the Wall Street Journal. Mayer was supposed to attend a swanky dinner party put on by Interpublic Group with MillerCoors, Chobani and marketers Mondelez International ready to meet Mayer and learn about Yahoo.
Unfortunately, Mayer was almost two hourslater and several of the invitees had left, including IPG's head Michael Roth. Mayer told some of the part that she had "fallen asleep."
“If it were an investor meeting, a board meeting or a potential acquisition, I am sure she or someone from her team would have woken her up,” said one top executive in attendance. “It is another instance where she demonstrated that she doesn’t understand the value of clients, ad revenue or agencies."
While we don't know how much the inopportune nap may have affected Yahoo's ad revenue, it likely wasn't helped by not meeting key figures at the party. Yahoo declined to comment on Mayer's alleged sleepiness and instead told WSJ that it valued its partnerships with IPG and advertisers.
U.S. & World
It's odd that such a thing happened -- not only for being late, but for giving such an awful excuse. Mayer dumped Henrique de Castro earlier this year and he earned $96 million for 15 months at the tech company. As the chief operating officer, de Castro would have likely been the exec at the meeting, but Mayer said she wouldn't fill the position and instead take on his duties dealing with advertising. So far, it doesn't look like she's doing that well.
