Marissa Mayer's grand vision for Yahoo is in technology, not media

With revenues drying up in online content creation, sources say that Yahoo will revert back to a technology company.

For years, the Silicon Valley company has been caught between being an online content and news provider and a supplier of technology tools. If it embraces the latter, the company will inevitably butt heads with Facebook and Google.

As originally reported by Reuters, Marissa Mayer, the company’s audacious CEO, is slowly steering the giant back to its tech roots. A source told me that Mayer has been taking meetings with promising startups in the mobile and social media space, evidence of an aggressive M&A strategy.

According to Reuters, the former Google executive has also met with various Internet moguls for advice on how to proceed, including AOL’s CEO Tim Armstrong, and Silicon Valley lawyer Larry Sonsini.

It has been reported that Mayer will make use of social media and will unveil new technology on PCs and tablets in a bid to boost advertising sales. In addition, Yahoo’s mobile applications have met with criticism — another area for improvement.

Full details of the plan will be made public on Monday when the company reports its quarterly results.

To usher in the change of direction, Mayer has brought on a number of new hires: Henrique de Castro as operations lead; experienced CFO Ken Goldman, and Jacqueline Reese for hiring and acquisitions. Her first major hire was a new CMO with entrepreneurial chops, Kathy Savitt.

On September 30, Mayer gave birth to a baby boy. About two weeks later, on October 16, she tweeted about her return to the Yahoo office.