Yahoo's Mayer Gets $23 Million -- WSJ
14 March 2017 - 6:02PM
Dow Jones News
By Joshua Jamerson
Yahoo Inc. detailed a golden parachute of $23 million for Chief
Executive Marissa Mayer as part of her planned departure from
what's left of the company after it sells its core assets to
Verizon Communications Inc.
In securities filings Monday, Yahoo also outlined the leadership
of that remaining business, placing board director Thomas McInerney
at the helm of what will effectively be a holding company for
Yahoo's sizable stakes in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Yahoo
Japan. Ms. Mayer will continue as Yahoo's CEO until the deal's
closing, at which point she will be replaced by Mr. McInerney and
step down from the company's board of directors.
Ms. Mayer's future with the core operations that will become
part of Verizon, which include its digital advertising technology
and portfolio of websites like Yahoo News, hasn't been announced.
She has said she is "planning to stay." Yahoo previously had said
she wouldn't remain at the holding company, which after the deal
closes will change its name to Altaba Inc., derived from a
combination of the words "alternate" and "Alibaba."
Ms. Mayer's payout includes nearly $3.02 million in cash and
about $20 million from restricted stock units she was previously
awarded. The $23 million total doesn't include nearly 2.9 million
stock options valued at $56.8 million that the filing said Ms.
Mayer held as of March 8. A spokeswoman said those options all have
vested.
The sale to Verizon marked a stunning fall for Ms. Mayer, whose
efforts to turn around Yahoo since she took over the once-powerful
internet giant in 2012 have been closely watched. She failed to
deliver pledged cost savings and stem declines in advertising
revenue, and Yahoo's influence in the internet industry continued
to wane.
Ms. Mayer's tenure suffered another blow after the Verizon deal
was announced in July, with the disclosures that Yahoo had suffered
two massive security breaches, one in 2014 that hit more than 500
million accounts and another from 2013 that affected more than 1
billion accounts. Yahoo said this month that Ms. Mayer wouldn't
receive her 2016 cash bonus or 2017 equity awards after a board
investigation found that she and other senior executives failed to
"properly comprehend or investigate" the 2014 breach.
Verizon said last month that it would proceed with the Yahoo
acquisition, but the two companies agreed to knock $350 million off
the deal price, which had been $4.83 billion. In Monday's filings,
Yahoo said that Verizon early in talks over the impact of the
breaches had suggested cutting the price by as much as $925
million. The companies expect the deal to close in the second
quarter of this year.
Mr. McInerney, the former chief financial officer of
IAC/InterActive Corp., joined Yahoo's board in 2012, the same year
Ms. Mayer was named the company's CEO after she came over from
Google. Mr. McInerney, 52 years old, was part of the independent
committee of Yahoo directors running its auction process last year.
Mr. McInerney would earn a base salary of $2 million a year, plus
incentive pay based on job-performance goals, according to a
separate regulatory filing on Monday.
Analysts say most of Yahoo's value stems from its stakes in
Alibaba and Yahoo Japan, not the core business being sold to
Verizon. Because the business to be known as Altaba will consist
primarily of equity investments, short-term debt investments and
cash, it will register as an investment company. However, Yahoo
shareholders' stock in the company won't be affected by the
move.
Alexi Wellman, who is vice president, global controller of
Yahoo, will be Altaba's finance and accounting chief, according to
a filing. She joined Yahoo in 2013 as vice president, finance.
Arthur Chong, who was a legal adviser for Yahoo from October
through last Thursday, will serve as general counsel and secretary,
and DeAnn Fairfield Work, another outside legal adviser to the
company, will be chief compliance officer. Mr. Chong's new role was
effective last Friday while the others will take their new roles
post-sale.
Yahoo previously said that Eric Brandt, who joined Yahoo's board
last March and is the former chief financial officer of Broadcom
Corp., will become chairman of Altaba.
Deepa Seetharaman and Theo Francis contributed to this
article.
Write to Joshua Jamerson at joshua.jamerson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 14, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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