An internationally recognised US professor has claimed that Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer kept her job only because “she was pregnant”.
Scott Galloway, from the New York University Stern School of Business, also told Bloomberg Business he thought Ms Mayer was the most overpaid CEO in history on Wednesday.
The undoubtedly controversial remarks come as Yahoo’s share price falls, after expectations of a tax-free spin-off with Alibaba were quashed by the US Internal Revenue Service earlier this month.
“In my view, and this is going to fill up my inbox this morning, if she hadn’t announced she was pregnant with twins, she’d be out of a job within six months,” Mr Galloway told the US news show.
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Ms Mayer announced her pregnancy on 1 September on her personal Tumblr. She also mentioned she would be taking “limited time” off for the birth in December.
Mr Galloway, a marketing professor at one of the US’s most respected business schools, added fuel to the bonfire by going on to claim: “She got a reprieve from death row because she’s pregnant with twins.”
“I don’t think any board in America right now in technology that’s as visible as Yahoo wants to be seen as not leaning in,” he told presenter Tom Keene, referring to Sheryl Sandberg’s 2013 book Lean In. One of the facets of Facebook’s chief operating officer’s book emphasised women needed to maintain their ambition post children.
Mr Galloway - who has a history of controversial public remarks - rounded off his criticism of Yahoo’s CEO by claiming she was “the most overpaid CEO in history”.
