4 ms·

In the cold light of history, executive pay in this epoch is going to shock. Executive 'severance' shall not be comprehended at all. Something is very, very,

In the cold light of history, executive pay in this epoch is going to shock. Executive 'severance' shall not be comprehended at all. Something is very, very, very wrong in our culture.

Gratsby 11y ago
The pool of people who are capable of leading a company the size of Yahoo isn't that big to begin with. Add to that the fact that Yahoo had a recent serial history of hiring then firing CEOs before they brought in Mayer, and the pool of potential people to fill the spot shrinks again. Yahoo had no pathway to success and was likely to fail spectacularly - especially given the way the board was behaving - which signified to any potential hire that it might be their last job. The pool of potential CEOs shrinks again. Of course the incoming CEO would negotiate a well-beyond-market severance package. They shouldn't even want to hire someone who didn't have the foresight to do so.
- colordrops 11y ago
  This is a common argument used to justify these golden parachutes. While you may be right in the context of the current system, you completely ignore the fact that the current system is seriously broken.
- dikdik 11y ago
  The "elite" are not actually elite, they are just a wealthy mediocrity. Much more capable people than Meyer are likely sitting around in a cubicle right now, but due to their lack of 'correct' connections/pedigree/experience they will never have even 1/100th the opportunity as Meyer.
  - Gratsby 11y ago
    If you're on the board of directors for a billion dollar search engine, who do you hire as CEO? A guy in a cubicle, or a Stanford grad who was employee #20 at google that spent a career in charge of Search, User Experience, and Location? You're acting like they just hired Paris Hilton off the street, when the reality is that she busted her ass her entire career in a field that few women have had major success in. The last CEO to hold onto the job at Yahoo as long as Mayer has is Terry Semel, and he got booted in 2007.
- aaroninsf 10y ago
  I'm going to point out the obvious: that perhaps the problem is that _we think it's a good idea to have companies like Yahoo in the first place_. Sprawling, disjoint, unfocused, patchwork... these descriptions comes to mind, and they apply as much to Google, whose rise and slip from clarity of purpose and mission is eerily similar in contour to those of us who remember when Yahoo was All That. This bubble's obsession with unicorns is a fine example of an emergent system marshaling unbelievably vast resources in the service of perversely petty and frivolous aims.
atdt 11y ago
Yes. $55m in severance pay is 932 times the real median household income in the United States as of 2014 ($53,657).
threatofrain 11y ago
I happen to think that class division will become more severe and irresistible, because I think that in a generally free economic game, advantage begets advantage, and disadvantage begets disadvantage.
- Gratsby 11y ago
  In Santa Clara county the odds of going from the lowest of income earners to the highest are better than anywhere else in the world. There's nepotism all over silicon valley, but there's also a strong respect for brains and the ability to get things done. If you want your kids to have a better life than you did, a free market capitalist economy is where you want to be. If you want to maintain your family's position of power and wealth, you want to be somewhere else.
  - aaroninsf 10y ago
    Saying the odds are better is akin to saying that your odds of winning Powerball improve _dramatically_ when you by twenty tickets instead of one. Executive pay is what it is because the system is very, very broken. The manners in which it has been systemically broken and remains broken through the collusion of the infinitesimally small number of people occupying the roles of winner are well documented, indeed, they are trivial to enumerate. I'll say it again. In the future, that we let these systems degrade to this point will be viewed with horror, and the same sort of moral incomprehension that we now claim to hold with respect to slavery and every other human failing. I hope my children see the day. If they don't it's because things have continued to slide in the other direction, which means things are going to live in a nightmare.
    - Gratsby 10y ago
      The odds are better than 1 in 6. What you are suggesting is a system that over and over again has proven to create poverty and destroy innovation.

In the cold light of history, executive pay in this epoch is going to shock. Executive 'severance' shall not be comprehended at all. Something is very, very, very wrong in our culture.

Gratsby 11y ago

The pool of people who are capable of leading a company the size of Yahoo isn't that big to begin with. Add to that the fact that Yahoo had a recent serial history of hiring then firing CEOs before they brought in Mayer, and the pool of potential people to fill the spot shrinks again. Yahoo had no pathway to success and was likely to fail spectacularly - especially given the way the board was behaving - which signified to any potential hire that it might be their last job. The pool of potential CEOs shrinks again. Of course the incoming CEO would negotiate a well-beyond-market severance package. They shouldn't even want to hire someone who didn't have the foresight to do so.

colordrops 11y ago
This is a common argument used to justify these golden parachutes. While you may be right in the context of the current system, you completely ignore the fact that the current system is seriously broken.
dikdik 11y ago
The "elite" are not actually elite, they are just a wealthy mediocrity. Much more capable people than Meyer are likely sitting around in a cubicle right now, but due to their lack of 'correct' connections/pedigree/experience they will never have even 1/100th the opportunity as Meyer.
- Gratsby 11y ago
  If you're on the board of directors for a billion dollar search engine, who do you hire as CEO? A guy in a cubicle, or a Stanford grad who was employee #20 at google that spent a career in charge of Search, User Experience, and Location? You're acting like they just hired Paris Hilton off the street, when the reality is that she busted her ass her entire career in a field that few women have had major success in. The last CEO to hold onto the job at Yahoo as long as Mayer has is Terry Semel, and he got booted in 2007.
aaroninsf 10y ago
I'm going to point out the obvious: that perhaps the problem is that _we think it's a good idea to have companies like Yahoo in the first place_. Sprawling, disjoint, unfocused, patchwork... these descriptions comes to mind, and they apply as much to Google, whose rise and slip from clarity of purpose and mission is eerily similar in contour to those of us who remember when Yahoo was All That. This bubble's obsession with unicorns is a fine example of an emergent system marshaling unbelievably vast resources in the service of perversely petty and frivolous aims.

atdt 11y ago

Yes. $55m in severance pay is 932 times the real median household income in the United States as of 2014 ($53,657).

threatofrain 11y ago

I happen to think that class division will become more severe and irresistible, because I think that in a generally free economic game, advantage begets advantage, and disadvantage begets disadvantage.

Gratsby 11y ago
In Santa Clara county the odds of going from the lowest of income earners to the highest are better than anywhere else in the world. There's nepotism all over silicon valley, but there's also a strong respect for brains and the ability to get things done. If you want your kids to have a better life than you did, a free market capitalist economy is where you want to be. If you want to maintain your family's position of power and wealth, you want to be somewhere else.
- aaroninsf 10y ago
  Saying the odds are better is akin to saying that your odds of winning Powerball improve _dramatically_ when you by twenty tickets instead of one. Executive pay is what it is because the system is very, very broken. The manners in which it has been systemically broken and remains broken through the collusion of the infinitesimally small number of people occupying the roles of winner are well documented, indeed, they are trivial to enumerate. I'll say it again. In the future, that we let these systems degrade to this point will be viewed with horror, and the same sort of moral incomprehension that we now claim to hold with respect to slavery and every other human failing. I hope my children see the day. If they don't it's because things have continued to slide in the other direction, which means things are going to live in a nightmare.
  - Gratsby 10y ago
    The odds are better than 1 in 6. What you are suggesting is a system that over and over again has proven to create poverty and destroy innovation.