Marissa Mayer On Yahoo’s Fired COO: De Castro “Not A Fit,” No Plans To Replace Him

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer offered some brief comments about the departure of COO Henrique De Castro during today’s earnings webcast.

The company announced earlier this month that De Castro, who joined Yahoo from Google in 2012, was leaving. The move that was widely seen as a firing resulting from De Castro’s difficulties turning around the ad business. (In today’s earnings report, Yahoo said sales and display advertising declined 6 percent year-over-year.)

When asked about the departure, Mayer said, “Ultimately, Henrique was not a fit” for the company: “It was a conclusion we tried very hard to avoid.” She added that there are no plans to replace him — instead, she touted the strength of Yahoo’s sales team and said this gives her “the opportunity to be much more involved” on the revenue side of the company.

During the call, Mayer also shared details about early traffic to Yahoo’s new tech and food sites.

Update: One of the analysts on the call asked for more details, and Mayer replied, “Out of respect for Henrique, I’d rather not comment on the past and on his performance, but rather on what we’re going to do going forward.” She reiterated her plans to work more closely with the sales and the media teams, and to create “a more flat organization” overall.