entire generation of entrepreneurs who still seem to yearn for a bygone era and remain frustrated that this onetime icon cant find its way back to success that always seems just out of its grasptwo decades ago yahoo was arguably the hottest company in silicon valley a true internet pioneer today there is an acronym gafa that stands for the four dominant players of the digital age googleapplefacebookamazon its hard to imagine now but that acronym had yahoo made different strategic decisions could easily have been gafayand ms mayer was one of the valleys socalled rock stars a successful whipsmart female executive from google who was celebrated in financial and fashion publications alike the problem perhaps is that ms mayer never realized that she wasnt running google she spent money as if she were still operating one of the valleys most coveted companies like google she provided free food about 108 million worth a year according to mr jacksons report perhaps one could argue she felt the need to compete with the likes of google on perks if she were to recruit top talent but she also managed to overpay to bring people on board through her aquihire strategy basically buying entire companies often failed or zombie companies so she could use the talent for other purposesand while she might have spent too much money on bad acquisitions she has also been criticized for spending too little yes she gets criticized coming and goingwhat could she do with the 94 billion of cash she used for buybacksstart making your dream shopping list there was a time when netflix was in her price range before its stock rocketed to a market capitalization of more than 50 billion if she had arrived at yahoo three months earlier she could have picked off instagram spotify the music service has been available the entire time snapchat at one time would have been a perfect acquisitionbut she never made any of those deals instead opting for tiny boltons that thus far dont appear to have moved the dialshe often points to the growth in yahoos mobile business as a bright spot and a business that didnt exist three years ago that is true and the market hasnt given her credit for it but mobile remains a fraction of the companys business there are most likely other positives she hasnt gotten credit for eitherbut to most investors her strategy which she says she will be revising again in january seems no different than the zigzag strategies of her various predecessor chief executives and dysfunctional boardsof course it is possible that ms mayer could prove everyone wrong but investors are running out of patience