Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Could Earn More Than £45m

Newly-appointed Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer could be set for a $70 million (£45 million) windfall if she stays for at least five years at the company. The 37-year old engineer has also revealed she is pregnant.

Google’s first engineer, Mayer was hired earlier this week, replacing the interim CEO Ross Levinsohn, who had been performing the role since Scott Thompson departed the company in May.

The figure is based on salary, various stock options and bonuses, including compensation for forfeiting money she would have been earned had she stayed at Google.

Mayer Earnings

According to a filing made with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mayer will receive a basic salary of $1 million (£637,000) a year along with a potential bonus of $2 million (£1.27m) depending on Yahoo’s financial performance.

She will also receive $12 million (£7.6m) in stock and stock options over the next few years and $14 million (£8.9m) in restricted stock for forfeiting her potential earnings at Google. In addition, she will receive a one-time retention payment of $30 million (£19.1m) if she stays at Yahoo for five years.

Mayer is Yahoo’s eighth CEO and the second female to hold the position, after Carol Bartz who served between 2009 and 2011.

Her predecessor, Scott Thompson, left the role after it emerged that the former PayPal boss did not have the Computer Science degree that he claimed he had on his CV. Thompson was only appointed in January, but during his short tenure he cut 2,000 jobs, mainly in the product, research and business divisions, as part of a streamlining process.

Yahoo has struggled in recent years, with Microsoft failed with a £28.2 billion bid to buy it in 2008, although it was rumoured to be interested once again late last year.

Mayer also revealed in a tweet that she is pregnant, and expects to give birth in October. She has told CNN that she expects to work right through the “few weeks” of maternity leave she is alloted.

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