7 ms·

Marissa Mayer sure makes some interesting contracts. Remember that she was the one who recruited Henrique De Castro from Google and personally got his contract

by jonknee 10y ago

Marissa Mayer sure makes some interesting contracts. Remember that she was the one who recruited Henrique De Castro from Google and personally got his contract approved by the board (though curiously withholding his name and exact compensation details). He worked at Yahoo for 15 months and earned a $58m severance. That is in addition to the ~$50m he made while working there. Again, in 15 months. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-02/yahoo-holders-win-bid-for-data-on-ex-operating-chief-s-ouster http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-02/yahoo-hold...

aphextron 10y ago
To be fair this is generally the last acts of any dying company. Try to buy/hire your way out of irrelevance only to burn up the last bits of liquidity your investors could hope to get back.
- BinaryIdiot 10y ago
  Maybe? At least anecdotely I almost always see spending cuts over and over until the workforce is dwindling with no promises of job security. This seems bizarre to me but I don't have data to say how common it is. Maybe it's different with a more media focused company?
- cscurmudgeon 10y ago
  What would you call Google's billion dollar payout to Apple to be the default search engine? Or Google's other traffic buying programs. Last acts of a dying company? Google is light years ahead of Yahoo in PR.
  - SeanBoocock 10y ago
    I would call it roughly 5% of Alphabet's Q1 2016 revenue.
    - cscurmudgeon 10y ago
      So yay monopoly and cartels?
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
chubot 10y ago
Yup... I think she was out of her league in terms of negotiation. She's a talented and user-focused product person, but not a leader/negotiator/employer. As I noted before, she was never at the senior VP level at Google (i.e. reporting to the CEO). So she just didn't have enough experience at that level. It seems like she got the CEO job based on name recognition, and not a track record of leadership and business acumen. It's interesting to consider the outrage about CEO pay in light of this. Sure, there are plenty of shitty CEOs who don't deserve their compensation. But you have to respect the fact that, at this level, if you aren't sharp, you'll be fleeced by your peers (i.e. De Castro, and whoever negotiated the Mozilla deal). You don't want to work for a CEO who is getting the short end of the stick all the time. In addition to Steve Jobs' talents as a product person, he also never got the short end of any deal. (I'm saying that as a person who has never really used Apple products.) I was astounded that he basically did a reverse takeover of TWO COMPANIES -- Apple when he returned, and Disney via Pixar. He negotiated with all the thugs in the movie and music businesses. There aren't many tech CEOs who can do that. I forget where, but I recall some anecdotes about being on the other side of the table with Bob Iger... saying that those guys basically threatened to physically harm you, and that their threats were actually credible!!! Like you should be scared for your life when messing with those guys :)
- jonknee 10y ago
  > Sure, there are plenty of shitty CEOs who don't deserve their compensation. But you have to respect the fact that, at this level, if you aren't sharp, you'll be fleeced by your peers (i.e. De Castro, and whoever negotiated the Mozilla deal). You don't want to work for a CEO who is getting the short end of the stick all the time. I always assumed there were some shark lawyers behind these deals, does the CEO really ignore advice and go it alone? In Mayer's case it really does seem so, but a non-sharp CEO should still be able to not be eaten alive if they bring good counsel to the table (though I guess that itself is the sign of being sharp!).
  - rdtsc 10y ago
    > I always assumed there were some shark lawyers behind these deals, does the CEO really ignore advice and go it alone? The leadership / negotiation prowess includes the ability to pick, hire, delegate and trust good people. It is not a coincidence that she was neither able to negotiate a good deal but also failed to negotiate hiring competent advisors. There is a large overlap there. Perhaps behind De Castro is a competent group of lawyers or advisors as well.
Retric 10y ago
Chief Operating Officer is rather high up. 108m for 15 months is not actually that crazy depending on their role and risks. PS: I know it seems crazy but CXX jobs other than CEO can really make ~85million per year. Often because they could be the CEO of another company.
- mbesto 10y ago
  Presumably you should be generating that much of value. It's crazy because I'm pretty sure a single person at Yahoo isn't generating $108m worth of value.
- jonknee 10y ago
  That is certainly crazy compensation for someone who was fired after 15 months. It was so crazy that shareholders actually sued the company for authorizing it. > PS: I know it seems crazy but CXX jobs other than CEO can really make ~85million per year. Often because they could be the CEO of another company. $85m a year would be top 5 CEO and that top 5 typically changes based on who got a big grant that year. It's certainly not typical compensation. In fact he was the highest paid COO in the country.
  - Retric 10y ago
    Depends on how you calculate it. CEO's want to minimize taxed income so they play a lot of accounting games. The ever popular 1$ salary is often very expensive on net.
    - jonknee 10y ago
      I think everyone here is discussing total compensation.
      - Retric 10y ago
        Does that include use of a company jet and a personal assistant for non work items? However, I am more thinking of stock options. Jobs for example was given options that would have been worth 10 billion with a B when they vested. Sure short term options have a market price but options you can exercise in 10 years are hard to come by.
limeyx 10y ago
Damn, I would have done his job for ... well, let's say just $25M and only another $10 or so in severance ... It would have been a bargain!
heimatau 10y ago
I think she's trying to buy more time with this decision. Think about it, she's not stupid, nor blind. She knows what she's doing and she screwed up with Starboard. She's trying to buy additional time with a rough contract like this. Who will want to buy Yahoo when they are on the hook for $1 Billion? No one, that's who. It's wise but...it might be too little too late. I don't know a ton on how to take a company private, especially after she's in a position she's in now but...if I were her, I'd leverage everything I had and take Yahoo private. Just like Dell did and turn the company around without all the public pressure.

by jonknee 10y ago

aphextron 10y ago

To be fair this is generally the last acts of any dying company. Try to buy/hire your way out of irrelevance only to burn up the last bits of liquidity your investors could hope to get back.

BinaryIdiot 10y ago
Maybe? At least anecdotely I almost always see spending cuts over and over until the workforce is dwindling with no promises of job security. This seems bizarre to me but I don't have data to say how common it is. Maybe it's different with a more media focused company?
cscurmudgeon 10y ago
What would you call Google's billion dollar payout to Apple to be the default search engine? Or Google's other traffic buying programs. Last acts of a dying company? Google is light years ahead of Yahoo in PR.
- SeanBoocock 10y ago
  I would call it roughly 5% of Alphabet's Q1 2016 revenue.
  - cscurmudgeon 10y ago
    So yay monopoly and cartels?
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]

chubot 10y ago

Yup... I think she was out of her league in terms of negotiation. She's a talented and user-focused product person, but not a leader/negotiator/employer. As I noted before, she was never at the senior VP level at Google (i.e. reporting to the CEO). So she just didn't have enough experience at that level. It seems like she got the CEO job based on name recognition, and not a track record of leadership and business acumen. It's interesting to consider the outrage about CEO pay in light of this. Sure, there are plenty of shitty CEOs who don't deserve their compensation. But you have to respect the fact that, at this level, if you aren't sharp, you'll be fleeced by your peers (i.e. De Castro, and whoever negotiated the Mozilla deal). You don't want to work for a CEO who is getting the short end of the stick all the time. In addition to Steve Jobs' talents as a product person, he also never got the short end of any deal. (I'm saying that as a person who has never really used Apple products.) I was astounded that he basically did a reverse takeover of TWO COMPANIES -- Apple when he returned, and Disney via Pixar. He negotiated with all the thugs in the movie and music businesses. There aren't many tech CEOs who can do that. I forget where, but I recall some anecdotes about being on the other side of the table with Bob Iger... saying that those guys basically threatened to physically harm you, and that their threats were actually credible!!! Like you should be scared for your life when messing with those guys :)

jonknee 10y ago
> Sure, there are plenty of shitty CEOs who don't deserve their compensation. But you have to respect the fact that, at this level, if you aren't sharp, you'll be fleeced by your peers (i.e. De Castro, and whoever negotiated the Mozilla deal). You don't want to work for a CEO who is getting the short end of the stick all the time. I always assumed there were some shark lawyers behind these deals, does the CEO really ignore advice and go it alone? In Mayer's case it really does seem so, but a non-sharp CEO should still be able to not be eaten alive if they bring good counsel to the table (though I guess that itself is the sign of being sharp!).
- rdtsc 10y ago
  > I always assumed there were some shark lawyers behind these deals, does the CEO really ignore advice and go it alone? The leadership / negotiation prowess includes the ability to pick, hire, delegate and trust good people. It is not a coincidence that she was neither able to negotiate a good deal but also failed to negotiate hiring competent advisors. There is a large overlap there. Perhaps behind De Castro is a competent group of lawyers or advisors as well.

Retric 10y ago

Chief Operating Officer is rather high up. 108m for 15 months is not actually that crazy depending on their role and risks. PS: I know it seems crazy but CXX jobs other than CEO can really make ~85million per year. Often because they could be the CEO of another company.

mbesto 10y ago
Presumably you should be generating that much of value. It's crazy because I'm pretty sure a single person at Yahoo isn't generating $108m worth of value.
jonknee 10y ago
That is certainly crazy compensation for someone who was fired after 15 months. It was so crazy that shareholders actually sued the company for authorizing it. > PS: I know it seems crazy but CXX jobs other than CEO can really make ~85million per year. Often because they could be the CEO of another company. $85m a year would be top 5 CEO and that top 5 typically changes based on who got a big grant that year. It's certainly not typical compensation. In fact he was the highest paid COO in the country.
- Retric 10y ago
  Depends on how you calculate it. CEO's want to minimize taxed income so they play a lot of accounting games. The ever popular 1$ salary is often very expensive on net.
  - jonknee 10y ago
    I think everyone here is discussing total compensation.
    - Retric 10y ago
      Does that include use of a company jet and a personal assistant for non work items? However, I am more thinking of stock options. Jobs for example was given options that would have been worth 10 billion with a B when they vested. Sure short term options have a market price but options you can exercise in 10 years are hard to come by.

limeyx 10y ago

Damn, I would have done his job for ... well, let's say just $25M and only another $10 or so in severance ... It would have been a bargain!

heimatau 10y ago

I think she's trying to buy more time with this decision. Think about it, she's not stupid, nor blind. She knows what she's doing and she screwed up with Starboard. She's trying to buy additional time with a rough contract like this. Who will want to buy Yahoo when they are on the hook for $1 Billion? No one, that's who. It's wise but...it might be too little too late. I don't know a ton on how to take a company private, especially after she's in a position she's in now but...if I were her, I'd leverage everything I had and take Yahoo private. Just like Dell did and turn the company around without all the public pressure.