If that was all Mayer has to contend with, that would be a challenge. However, Yahoo has seen its share of industry troubles, as well.

The company started out as an Internet pioneer but slowly slid into the online background. Industry upstarts, like Google, and , have overshadowed Yahoo and it has lost user mindshare over the years.

Tuesday afternoon, Yahoo reported revenue for the second quarter of 2012 of $1.2 billion, essentially flat compared to the same quarter a year ago. Income for the period was $190 million, down $1 million from the same quarter of 2011.

"It's a bit of a train wreck," said Enderle. "But this could be an epic turnaround. Mayer is more qualified to run Google than [Google CEO Larry] Page is. She has better people skills and has the rounding needed by a CEO. You basically have the person who should be running Google running Yahoo. Pretty much anything can happen."

Over the course of the last eight months, reports surfaced both and Google were trying to buy Yahoo. Some analysts thought selling would be a great option for the struggling company.