5 ms·

With all the hubbub surrounding Mayer/Yahoo, why hasn't the board or shareholders fired her?

matt4077 10y ago
Mostly because there are people with opinions that differ from the hn/reddit echo chamber. Nobody denies that yahoo failed, but most people also believe that it's fate was sealed the day it refused to buy google, and that she did about as well as anybody would have. ...but also: she'd get a 60$ million bonus if fired, and considering that yahoo has already lost 90% of its former value and is being sold of, people probably stopped caring.
- CalChris 10y ago
  Yahoo refused to buy Google? I don't remember that. In 2000, when Yahoo signed the deal to use Google search results, they also made an investment as well. IIRC, they sold that when Google went public. Obviously, Yahoo made a ton on that.
  - josephg 10y ago
    Larry and Sergey tried selling their pagerank engine to Yahoo back in 1998, before they formed Google. Yahoo wasn't interested. They founded google as a fallback plan after being turned down.
  - rgbrenner 10y ago
    https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-Yahoo-turned-down-an-offer-to-buy-Google-for-around-1-million-in-1998 https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-Yahoo-turned-down-an-o... there was also a time a few years later, when yahoo offered 3b for google: https://www.wired.com/2007/02/yahoo-3/ https://www.wired.com/2007/02/yahoo-3/
  - throwaway_exer 10y ago
    1. The Google founders initially tried to sell Pagerank to Yahoo for $1 billion when Google was just a search research company. 2. Later, Yahoo bought goto.com before Adwords came out. Adwords infringed on goto's patents. Google ended up giving a few hundred million to Yahoo.
- merpnderp 10y ago
  Isn't that bonus peanuts to the incredibly bad deal she signed with Mozilla? I love Mozilla so was happy when Yahoo got outmaneuvered on that deal, but she certainly didn't "[do] about as well as anybody would have" on that deal.
protomyth 10y ago
I would think the the board of Yahoo believes that since it is selling the company anyway they should let the new buyer pay the golden parachute instead of the existing stock holders.

Mostly because there are people with opinions that differ from the hn/reddit echo chamber. Nobody denies that yahoo failed, but most people also believe that it's fate was sealed the day it refused to buy google, and that she did about as well as anybody would have. ...but also: she'd get a 60$ million bonus if fired, and considering that yahoo has already lost 90% of its former value and is being sold of, people probably stopped caring.

CalChris 10y ago
Yahoo refused to buy Google? I don't remember that. In 2000, when Yahoo signed the deal to use Google search results, they also made an investment as well. IIRC, they sold that when Google went public. Obviously, Yahoo made a ton on that.
- josephg 10y ago
  Larry and Sergey tried selling their pagerank engine to Yahoo back in 1998, before they formed Google. Yahoo wasn't interested. They founded google as a fallback plan after being turned down.
- rgbrenner 10y ago
  https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-Yahoo-turned-down-an-offer-to-buy-Google-for-around-1-million-in-1998 https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-Yahoo-turned-down-an-o... there was also a time a few years later, when yahoo offered 3b for google: https://www.wired.com/2007/02/yahoo-3/ https://www.wired.com/2007/02/yahoo-3/
- throwaway_exer 10y ago
  1. The Google founders initially tried to sell Pagerank to Yahoo for $1 billion when Google was just a search research company. 2. Later, Yahoo bought goto.com before Adwords came out. Adwords infringed on goto's patents. Google ended up giving a few hundred million to Yahoo.
merpnderp 10y ago
Isn't that bonus peanuts to the incredibly bad deal she signed with Mozilla? I love Mozilla so was happy when Yahoo got outmaneuvered on that deal, but she certainly didn't "[do] about as well as anybody would have" on that deal.

protomyth 10y ago

I would think the the board of Yahoo believes that since it is selling the company anyway they should let the new buyer pay the golden parachute instead of the existing stock holders.