Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer: ‘I’m Planning to Stay’
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is planning to stick around despite the board of her Silicon Valley-based company agreeing to sell the bulk of its core Internet operations to Verizon in a deal worth $4.8 billion, subject to customary closing adjustments.
“For me personally, I’m planning to stay. I love Yahoo, and I believe in all of you. It’s important to me to see Yahoo into its next chapter,” Mayer wrote on a Tumblr blog post.
Mayer, presumably, will only stay with Yahoo until the deal is approved by Yahoo’s shareholders, and regulatory approvals, which is expected to occur during the first quarter of 2017.
Also Read: Verizon Acquires Yahoo's Core Assets for $4.8 Billion
Mayer’s pay in 2015 was $35.9 million, representing a 14.5 percent drop from the Yahoo CEO’s compensation in 2014, but she is expected to receive a $55 million golden parachute when the deal is finalized.
Yahoo will be integrated with AOL under Marni Walden, EVP and president of the product innovation and new businesses organization at Verizon. The valuation represents the sinking fortunes for the online pioneer, which launched as a directory of websites in 1994 and was worth as much as $125 billion six years later. But it found itself outmaneuvered by younger companies like Google and Facebook, which moved beyond the basic web advertising model into apps, search and social networking.
“Today’s announcement not only brings us an important step toward separating Yahoo’s operating business from our Asian asset equity stakes, it also presents exciting opportunities to accelerate Yahoo’s transformation,” Mayer wrote. “Among the many entities that showed interest in Yahoo, Verizon believed most in the immense value we’ve created, and in what a combination could bring our users, our advertisers, and our partners.”
Also Read: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Left Out of Allen & Co.'s 'Summer Camp for Billionaires'
Last Monday, Yahoo reported earnings that coincided with Wall Street’s low expectations for the second quarter of 2016, but CEO Marissa Mayer claimed the company was making strides.
“Yahoo is a company that has changed the world, and will continue to do so through this combination with Verizon and AOL. The sale of our operating business, which effectively separates our Asian asset equity stakes, is an important step in our plan to unlock shareholder value for Yahoo,” Mayer said. “This transaction also sets up a great opportunity for Yahoo to build further distribution and accelerate our work in mobile, video, native advertising and social.”
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