Yahoo CEO Set to Reap Big Payout -- WSJ
April 26 2017 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
Marissa Mayer stands to collect about $187 million on her shares
in Verizon deal
By Deepa Seetharaman
Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Marissa Mayer is set to reap some
$187 million from her shareholdings as a result of the internet
company's sale of its core business to Verizon Communications Inc.,
according to securities filings.
The hefty payout comes despite Ms. Mayer's inability to
accomplish what she was hired to do five years ago: revitalize the
fading internet icon after its struggles with high employee and
executive turnover and declines in ad revenue.
Instead, Yahoo sold its business -- not including some assets
such as its stakes in other internet companies -- to Verizon last
year for $4.5 billion. That deal is expected to close in June,
after months of delays following Yahoo's disclosure of two massive
security breaches.
Yahoo shareholders will vote on the deal during a special
meeting on June 8, according to a securities filing published
Monday. The measure is expected to pass. As part of their severance
package, Ms. Mayer and other top Yahoo executives are eligible for
accelerated vesting of all stock options, restricted-stock units,
and other equity-based awards outstanding when the deal closes,
according to the filing.
For Ms. Mayer, that includes stock options valued at more than
$85 million and Yahoo shares valued at nearly $77 million at
Tuesday's closing share price of $48.40, according to the
information in the filing.
She also holds restricted stock units worth about $25 million at
Tuesday's closing share price; vesting of those units would be
accelerated under her golden parachute plan, Yahoo has said.
Together, those amounts are worth $187 million at Tuesday's
closing share price. Adding salary, bonus and options she has
already exercised, that brings her total compensation over her
tenure at Yahoo to an estimated $227.6 million.
The payout figure is far larger than the golden parachute of $23
million Yahoo said last month that Ms. Mayer would receive as part
of her planned departure from what's left of the company after the
sale to Verizon. That figure included a $20 million estimate of the
value of restricted stock units, as well as $3.02 million in
cash.
Supporters and critics alike say Ms. Mayer took on a steep
challenge with Yahoo, but her managerial mistakes, including not
cutting costs quickly enough, complicated the already tricky
turnaround.
Verizon initially agreed in July to buy Yahoo's business for
$4.83 billion. Then Yahoo disclosed two large security breaches,
one in 2014 that hit more than 500 million accounts and another in
2013 that affected more than one billion accounts.
The security incidents forced Yahoo back to the negotiating
table, and the two companies said in February they had agreed to
knock $350 million off the price.
In March, Yahoo's board said 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.
Last month, U.S. officials indicted four Russians, including two
Russian spies, in the 2014 hack.
--Theo Francis contributed to this article.
Write to Deepa Seetharaman at Deepa.Seetharaman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 26, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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