Marissa Mayer to leave Yahoo with a $186 million payout
Regardless of how business pundits will eventually judge Marissa Mayer’s tenure as CEO of Yahoo, she’s succeeded on at least one front: reaping rich personal rewards.
Mayer will leave Yahoo following its sale to Verizon with more than $186 million in payouts, with the bulk of the compensation tied to her Yahoo stock, stock options and restricted stock options, according to calculations by the Wall Street Journal. Included in the figure is her golden parachute payout of $23 million, which largely consists of restricted stock. Since joining the Internet pioneer in 2012, she’s earned far more than $200 million.
Yahoo hired Mayer, one of Google’s first employees, with the goal of turning around the declining Internet giant. But her efforts failed to revitalize its core business, while massive security breaches in 2013 and 2014 unsettled some customers, who questioned whether Yahoo had properly handled the security problems. Mayer recently said she would turn down an equity bonus for 2017 and a cash bonus for 2016, citing the massive hacks.
“I am the CEO of the company and since this incident happened during my tenure, I have agreed to forgo my annual bonus and my annual equity grant this year and have expressed my desire that my bonus be redistributed to our company’s hardworking employees, who contributed so much to Yahoo’s success in 2016,” she wrote in a blog post last month.
Her total payout from Yahoo’s sale most likely dwarfs whatever bonus and grant she gave up, however. In recent years, her base salary and bonus have amounted to $3 million.
Verizon agreed to buy Yahoo last year for $4.83 billion, although the companies renegotiated a lower price after the security breaches were disclosed.
Shareholders will vote on the acquisition on July 8. As part of the deal, Mayer and other top executives have been granted accelerated vesting of stock options and stock-based awards, as is typical in such transactions. At the closing, all outstanding Yahoo stock options will be fully vested and exercisable, the filing noted.
Mayer and other top Yahoo executives won’t be part of the newly formed Internet company envisioned by Verizon, which will be called Oath.
