Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer continues to stack up piles of cash, despite her veritable failure to rescue the company from a pile of its own rot. After numerous setbacks, including two massive security breaches and dwindling ad revenue, Mayer is set to make about $US186 million ($247 million) as a result of the company’s sale to Verizon, new SEC documents show.
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This enormous sum of money — the actual transfer of which is contingent upon shareholder approval, a move the New York Times described as “widely expected” — includes shares she already owned, outstanding share options, a $US23 million ($30.5 million) “golden parachute“, cash payments and medical benefits, according to the documents.
The sum does not include Mayer’s salary or bonuses over the past five years, which reportedly add up to more than $US200 million ($265 million) alone. Shareholders will vote on the company’s sale and Mayer’s new compensation package in June. (We reached out to Yahoo for comment on the deal, but had not heard back at time of writing.)
Mayer’s $US186 million ($247 million) payout is much higher than her initially reported golden parachute of $US23 million ($30.5 million). It’s all the more absurd when one considers the missteps Yahoo has made under Mayer’s watch — the company, for example, disclosed it suffered two separate cyber attacks in 2013 and 2014. The Justice Department later alleged that the second attack, which affected more than 500 million users, was linked to the Russian intelligence agency FSB. The disclosures led to a drop in the Verizon deal price, from $US4.8 billion ($6.4 billion) to $US4.5 billion ($6 billion). Then there was Mayer’s penchant for overspending, and the slow, sad decline of Yahoo’s core business. (While she didn’t exactly cause the latter slide, she didn’t do much to stem it, either.)
Of course, we’ll always have her Zamboni ride, as well as an absurdly extravagant and incredibly tone-deaf roaring ’20s themed holiday party. Here’s hoping the next person who screws up this badly isn’t rewarded with a nearly $250 million dollar payout.
[SEC]