Yahoo's Marissa Mayer interrupted by Walmart protesters at Salesforce.com conference

Salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff talk with guest speaker Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer at the Salesforce.com annual trade show at Moscone Center in San Francisco on Nov. 19, 2013. (Josie Lepe/Staff)

SAN FRANCISCO -- A noisy protest on behalf of Walmart workers briefly disrupted a talk by Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer during a major tech industry conference Tuesday night, but Mayer remained unfazed as she spoke of her efforts to refocus Yahoo on the mobile tech trend.

The protesters were quickly escorted out of the auditorium at Moscone Center after interrupting Mayer's talk on stage with Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff. Mayer explained that she serves on Walmart's board of directors but said she wasn't at the event to talk about Walmart issues.

Labor activists have been dogging Mayer at public appearances for the last year, although they usually have remained outside public events, while seeking attention for the company's treatment of Walmart workers who say they were fired for protesting unsafe practices at the retail giant.

Mayer, however, quickly returned to the subject of Yahoo's turnaround effort, telling Benioff that she believes the popularity of mobile Internet devices is a major industry shift that Yahoo can ride to success. Rebuilding Yahoo's popular web services for mobile users "was an immediate priority" when she took the job as CEO last year, Mayer said.

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