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Marissa Mayer Employment Offer Letter
- jorgem 14y agoThat's a pretty good gig.
- quesera 14y agoIf you overlook a number or two here and there, this could be confused with any offer letter for any job from any company in the industry. I'm not sure why that surprises me.
- philwelch 14y agoYou'd expect a million dollar offer letter to be embossed on linen paper with gold ink or something. Turns out it's just an ordinary offer letter, right down to requiring the CEO to bring in proof that she's legally eligible to work in the United States. (Don't want any illegal immigrant CEO's sneaking in stealing our jobs!)
- melvinmt 14y agoThe bonuses only get paid if she somehow manages to grow Yahoo by $bns of dollars. Then, in comparison, the CEO gets a little piece of the pie. See Steve Jobs for a good example.
- famousactress 14y agoOh good, she has vision.
- mikek 14y agoYou jest, but what if she needs to get this done: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/MannGlassEye_and_MindMesh_2427-2429proc_rotated_cropped.jpg/150px-MannGlassEye_and_MindMesh_2427-2429proc_rotated_cropped.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Man...
- arjunnarayan 14y agoCan someone who understands all these terms tally up what she gets paid, and under what conditions? I find it quite confusing.
- mvkel 14y ago1mm per year base Up to 4mm in annual bonus if she exceeds goals defined by the board Roughly 45mm in equity vesting over 5 years.
- Danieru 14y agoIn regards to the stock: > "provided that, in each case, you are employed by the Company on the applicable vesting date or as otherwise provided herein" So unless she beats the current CEO lifetime running average she will only see 9mm of that 45mm. Minus the fact that half the stock are options.
- zuikan 14y agoAny way to figure out what these "goals" are?
- DanielRibeiro 14y agoFrom another discussion[1]: $1 Million Base, Up To $60 Million In Stock And Bonuses [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4268330 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4268330
- uvdiv 14y agoI don't understand much but the Washington Post does: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/new-yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayers-compensation-package-worth-more-than-59m-over-several-years/2012/07/19/gJQAOD4ywW_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/new-yahoo-... * $1 million/year in salary; * up to $2 million/year in bonuses; * $14 million in restricted stock & options vesting over three years ($4.7 million/year). Restricted means she won't get these if she leaves before they vest. The real value of these depends on the future value of Yahoo stock * $30 million retention bonus if she stays 5 years That's $59 million for the first 5 years ($5M + $10M + $14M + $30M). Yahoo says they expect to pay her a total $100 million over that time period -- they'll award other things on top of these.
- dangrossman 14y ago> Employment At-Will. Please understand that this letter does not constitute a contract of employment for any specific period of time, but will create an employment at-will relationship that may be terminated at any time by you or Yahoo!, with or without cause and with or without advance notice. Just like being a cashier at McDonalds. That bit was unexpected for me. Why would the board want to let its CEO quit without notice at any time?
- mvkel 14y agoThis is standard for pretty much any company. It protects the company against frivolous wrongful termination lawsuits.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- SkyMarshal 14y agoIf you don't mean to be snide then don't be. It's not that hard. Just skip the snark and explain what OP is missing. If you have some knowledge of employment contracts to share, OP and all the rest of us would appreciate it.
- wh-uws 14y agoNot a lawyer or anything of that sort. Law is sort of small hobby for me: I read every word of anything I sign and I paid a decent amount of attention in a business law class I took in college. A great introductory book on the subject you could probably get cheaply used at a college book store is "Fundamentals of Business Law" It goes over just about anything a small business and/or startup person would want to know (short of options, equity, and the like ) anymore you would definitely want to go with professional council on . At will employment is a pretty standard practice is the US. That language is in just about any offer for employment that a person would read in the states. It basically just means "you can quit at anytime and we can get rid of you at anytime" generally except for anything that violates the employment contract or any applicable laws. Its to help with liability and rights on both ends
- petercooper 14y agoAnd still only 20 days of vacation (over a week less than the legal minimum here in the UK :-))
- waiwai933 14y agoThat only counts paid time off, though. She gets paid enough to take a day off whenever she wants, though, so practically speaking, it's still the "you're the CEO—you call the shots" thing going on.
- netmau5 14y agoSomething tells me that the vacation time isn't getting used.
- bhousel 14y agoShe'll probably use it when she has her baby in October.
- daigoba66 14y agoMaternity leave is typically separate from other accrued PTO.
- daniel_solano 14y agoMaternity leave is also not necessarily paid. In my experience with maternity leave, the only pay involved short- and long-term disability insurance. Of course, individual employers may offer paid leave, but that's not required.
- bhousel 14y agoTrue, but she'll probably use the PTO for doctor's visits and other pre/postpartum stuff.
- leppie 14y agoHeck, I only get 15. I would kill for 20.
- Sidnicious 14y agoI love the terms Yahoos (only used twice in the offer) and Chief Yahoos.
- smashing 14y ago> The Yahoos are primitive creatures obsessed with "pretty stones" they find by digging in mud, thus representing the distasteful materialism and ignorant elitism... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo_%28Gulliver%27s_Travels%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo_%28Gulliver%27s_Travels%...
- sdiwakar 14y agoI'm curious to know whether people in the US holding senior positions are not subjected to non-compete periods following their termination with their current employer (e.g. not working for a direct competitor for a period of 3 months etc.)? It surprised me that Marrisa Mayer was allowed to quit Google and then start at Yahoo the very next day, is that common?
- Shank 14y agoIt's illegal in California to have a non-compete clause. It also only applies if one is fired from said previous employer, not one who's left at will.
- enjo 14y agoHuh? Every non-compete I've had forced down my throat (I've refused to sign the last several) was specifically guarding against me leaving the company for a competitor.
- mikeryan 14y agoExcept as provided in this chapter, every contract by which anyone is restrained from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind is to that extent void. Its CA law. From the business and professions code [1]. [1] http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=bpc&group=16001-17000&file=16600-16607 http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=bpc...
- lusr 14y agoA clause restraining you from engaging in your "profession, trade, or business", i.e. in general, is unenforceable. A clause restraining you from engaging with another party may or may not be unenforceable depending on the details. In other words, nobody can enforce a clause preventing a programmer from programming for company B after leaving company A purely on the basis of restricting competition. They may have a case if e.g. company B contracted company A to do some work and then bought out company A's programmer (e.g. to save money), but only if the contract between company A and the programmer in question has a restraint specifically penalizing this scenario. (Even then, it doesn't mean companies will choose to enforce the contract. I've worked for companies where the restraint was between the companies A and B, and in the interest of preserving business relationships, company A decided not to pursue their legal right to recourse when company B poached an employee from A; the employee did not break conditions of their employment with A as the restraint was between their companies.)
- spaghetti 14y agoJust bought my popcorn machine and home soda dispenser. Really looking forward to seeing this unfold! Seriously though I'd bet that Google studied the value of Yahoo's traffic especially in Asia and decided getting someone on the inside makes business sense. Why should Yahoo take the fantasy sports cake for example? Wouldn't it fit right in at Google Plus?
- joshmlewis 14y agoI don't think I'll ever understand people like you.
- spaghetti 14y agoWhat are you having trouble understanding?
- lazugod 14y agoThe willingness to believe in conspiracy theories, probably.
- spaghetti 14y agoSometimes it's OK to let your imagination run wild. Especially when the 20th employee of thriving Google chooses to be the CEO of stagnating Yahoo.
- tdfx 14y agoIt may also help to look at it as: stagnating Google employee #20, passed over for promotion, spites Google by taking job at a competitor.
- lusr 14y agoTop job, no less. For somebody who's accomplished as much as she has, it must be difficult finding worthy new challenges. The VentureBeat article on another thread states she's worth $300m. She only continues to work because she loves the challenge, clearly.
- kevincennis 14y ago"Background Check. You represent that all information provided to Yahoo! or its agents with regard to your background is true and correct." ...internally referred to as "The Scott Thompson Clause".
- smashing 14y agoU.S. Patent No. 7,668,861. Inventor: Scott Thomas. Method of Incorporating Managerial Due Diligence in an organization after employment as a result of previous gross negligence, misstatements, and/or errors in judgment in matters of no immediate importance which can easily be discovered by a third party without the necessity of any propriety technology, e.g. checking on the existence of a diploma using math.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- ndefinite 14y agoDid anyone else pause at the $80k and think that's not very much, before continuing to read "per month"?
- royalghost 14y agoExactly! I did.
- eta_carinae 14y agoOne million dollars a year is still very, very low for a CEO of a major public company.
- uvdiv 14y agoThat's only the salary. "The estimated value of executive pay packages can also be calculated in dramatically different ways. After factoring in future grants of restricted stock and stock options due Mayer under her employment agreement, Yahoo said her annual compensation will be worth about $20 million annually [sic], or about $100 million during the next five years that the company hopes to retain her as CEO." http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/new-yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayers-compensation-package-worth-more-than-59m-over-several-years/2012/07/19/gJQAOD4ywW_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/new-yahoo-...
- eta_carinae 14y ago> That's only the salary. Like I said, it's still very low for a CEO salary.
- btipling 14y ago$100 million dollars? Really? How could that be cost effective?
- mkramlich 14y agoAgree the amount seems obscene. But technically as long as they believe, at the end of that period, that Yahoo has done say $150M better, for example, then on the net Yahoo was better off. I doubt that Ms. Meyer (and indeed, probably most CEO's) are really worth what they get paid, but I do think it's possible that here coming on board may have a big enough impact, both directly and indirectly, to move the needle for them by $100M+ net relative to alternate courses of action. And that's all that's needed for the math to justify it. One question will be, of course, whether if by her coming over it also leads to other Google caliber folks switching ships as well. I've heard people say she's a great choice, and people say bad, but I can't add anything either way. It's likely that she was one factor in Google's success. It's also likely that some people give her too much credit and she got a little lucky. Both can be true.
- gsap 14y agoExcuse me, I may be new to US laws. But why the heck does Marissa Mayer have her Offer Letter publicly available?
- confluence 14y agoSEC filings exist to publicly and accurately disclose material changes to a company's structure/future (not always true - but that's the spirit). The CEO offer letter is one such material change - as the shareholders are technically paying her. Most people aren't material changes - hence their offer letters are not published.
- ashazar 14y agoProbably it's because Yahoo is open to public (NASDAQ: YHOO); they have to be transparent and open their documents to the shareholders.
- bluelu 14y agoThese 100 million $ are a good sign for yahoo's employees to leave. They are in absolutely no relation what she is worth and can do. That's what I would do.
- gte910h 14y ago100 million is only if the company turns around in a big way. Staying the same will likely get her fired, as will tanking the stock, and moderate growth will result in less than 100 million.