Marissa Mayer And Michael Arrington To Talk Yahoo And Chickens At Disrupt NY

Disrupt NY 2014 is mere days away, and we’re thrilled to announce that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer will be joining Michael Arrington for a fireside chat (not by an actual fireside). Mayer will talk about how she’s rebuilding Yahoo, turning the company into a mobile and content-focused platform via strategic startup acquisitions.

As you may have read, Michael has chickens now and the Internet is obviously curious about his poultry ambitions.

Of course, acquisitions have played a major role in Yahoo’s resurgence. The company has acquired dozens of companies since Mayer took over in 2012, with most buys aimed at bolstering the company’s mobile offerings. In 2014 alone, Yahoo purchased Aviate, makers of a popular Android homescreen replacement app, Sparq, a mobile marketing startup, and Vizify, which lets users curate an interactive profile using their social media content.

All of Yahoo’s mobile acquisitions and acqui-hires seem to be paying off. The company’s new Yahoo Weather and revamped Flickr apps are regarded among the best applications in their respective categories.

Yahoo’s most notable content acquisition under Mayer was Tumblr, one of the internet’s leading microblogging platforms. Yahoo bought the NYC startup darling in May 2013 for $1.1 billion. The acquisition of Tumblr and its 300 million monthly uniques was part of a larger push into the content arena by Yahoo, which also saw the launch of a revamped Yahoo News site with new Yahoo Tech and Food verticals, and the hiring of TV personality Katie Couric as a global news anchor.

Prior to taking the helm at Yahoo, Mayer spent 12 years at Google, serving as the VP of Local and Location services, leading the product engineering efforts for services like Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Street View and Local Search. Before joining the location team, Mayer also led the product management and design teams behind Google’s web and image search, as well as books, products, toolbar and the now-defunct iGoogle site.

At Disrupt, Mayer will shed light on Yahoo’s acquisition strategy, its quest to build better mobile apps and its push to become the leading voice in online video at Disrupt next week. Tickets for Disrupt are available through Monday, so if you’ve held out until the last minute, mosey over to the ticket page to secure your spot.