Internet giant Yahoo has named a longtime executive from rival company Google as its new chief executive.

Marissa Mayer begins her position on Tuesday, becoming a rare female CEO in Silicon Valley.

The 37-year-old was one of Google's earliest employees, and was involved in the development of its well-known search engine and iconic homepage. She also was responsible for overseeing many of Google's most popular products, including its image search, news search and mapping programs.

Yahoo has had a string of CEOs over the past several years, as it struggled to turn its large user base of 700 million people into advertising revenue growth. The company also has had to compete with the growing success of Google and social networking leader Facebook.

Shares of Yahoo rose in extended trading following Monday's announcement.