Re/code's Kara Swisher has an in-depth scoop describing what is likely Yahoo's overarching goal for the near-to-mid term: displacing Google as Apple's default Safari search engine on iOS devices. There's a lot of money and mindshare to be had by taking the default search position on mobile devices, especially Apple's. Swisher reports that Google allegedly pulls in much more revenue from search on iOS than it does on Android, and Mayer's Yahoo appears to regard a return to prominence in search as a key to the company's long-term success.
There's a lot more going on behind the scenes, though. Yahoo currently relies on Microsoft's Bing for search results as part of a long-term partnership deal with Microsoft; the company has no actual search product of its own. Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land correctly points out that it's been a long time since Yahoo provided its own search results, and the company would need to start from scratch with infrastructure, personnel, and an algorithm in order to actually do search again. Just reserving Bing results wouldn't work—if Apple wanted Bing search results on iOS, it would be better off skipping the middle man and going to Microsoft directly.
But the idea of a big investment doesn't appear to scare Yahoo at all. Even as Yahoo appears to struggle, it actually has a huge amount of cash right now due to its stake in Chinese e-commerce portal Alibaba. This gives Yahoo the money (and, more importantly, the time) to resurrect its deprecated search product. As Sullivan notes, the Web has grown considerably since Yahoo last did search, but Mayer has an answer to that: two Yahoo initiatives (reportedly codenamed "Fast Break" and "Curveball") are aimed at recharging both search and search-based advertising).
The ultimate goal is to convince Apple that Yahoo is the right choice for that all-important default Safari search slot. To do that, Yahoo will have to convince Apple's executives—folks like Eddy Cue, who have in the past stated that they won't replace Google with an alternative until the customers can't tell the difference in the quality of the results delivered. Divorcing Google from iOS Safari's default position would be advantageous to Apple on many levels—it would stop Apple from driving a tremendous amount of revenue to its often-rival Google—but not if it results in an iOS Maps-like debacle of bad search results.
However, Swisher concludes by noting that if Yahoo can convince Apple, and Apple does want to make the switch, there's an opportunity to do so next year—the contract between Apple and Google ends at that point, and Apple could choose to jump ship rather than extend.
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