Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer won praise from her board of directors for “revitalizing the company’s employee base,” among other acomplishments. Even so, the board elected not to pay Mayer as much as it could have: CNN reports that instead of the $42 million Mayer received, she could have made $55 million! If only the company she runs was a little more successful, Mayer would have really made the home register ring.
Yahoo was supposed to do $5 billion in revenues in 2014 and fell short of that goal--so Mayer’s pay package was short as well. Instead of the $55 million, Mayer has to settle for the $42 million–most as a result of a one-time stock option exercise. Despite missing performance goals, Yahoo’s stock has tripled since Mayer took over–mostly thanks to Yahoo’s pre-Mayer investment in Alibaba. If the stock hadn’t risen, Mayer would have made just $17 million in 2014.
