5 ms·

Marissa was the 5th Yahoo CEO between 2011 and 2012. Yahoo had a habit of hiring CEOs and then firing before they had a chance to make progress. She didn't wan

Marissa was the 5th Yahoo CEO between 2011 and 2012. Yahoo had a habit of hiring CEOs and then firing before they had a chance to make progress. She didn't want to be fired 6 months into the job. Yahoo is a big ship, and Marissa wanted time to turn it around and see results. I assume she negotiated a large severance pay not as a way of making lots of money, but rather to incentive the board to give her a chance.

remarkEon 11y ago
-> I assume she negotiated a large severance pay not as a way of making lots of money, but rather to incentive the board to give her a chance. The game theorist in me says this is probably correct. I suppose it would be helpful to think of severance pay as a hedge against the downside risk of failure. Still, it does sound kind of awful that she'll get this much money with the company itself having, essentially, negative value.
- woodman 11y ago
  If the other player accepts your poison pill, then you should reconsider its effectiveness. The only rational conclusion you could draw from such a move would be "Gee, they're willing to spend at least 55 million to fire and hire as they please."
skuhn 11y ago
Marissa is the 7th ever Yahoo CEO, not the fifth CEO in a one year window. There was a lot of turnover in the 2011-2012 period, but it's mostly down to Yahoo, and also eBay, failing to do their due diligence with Scott Thompson. 1. 1995 - 2001: Tim Koogle 2. 2001 - 2007: Terry Semel 3. 2007 - 2008: Jerry Yang 4. 2009 - 2011: Carol Bartz 5. 2012 (5mo): Scott Thompson 6. 2012 (3mo): Ross Levinsohn (interim) 7. 2012 - now: Marissa Mayer
serge2k 11y ago
uh huh. I'm sure that was the only factor.