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  2. Employee Benefits

Marissa Mayer Will Get a Delicious $55M in Severance if She Gets Fired

Published: May 02, 2016 2 min read
Marissa Mayer Severance Compensation
Kimberly White—Getty Images

The state of Yahoo is stormy, to say the least, as the Internet company tries to sell itself amidst revenue drops and makes plans to layoff 1,700 workers. Still more jobs are in jeopardy, most notably that of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. But if she does in fact get ousted, she will get considerably more than the boot: she stands to gain $54.9 million, according to USA Today, which found the sum in an SEC filing from Friday.

Besides $3 million in cash and a few other small benefits, Mayer stands to get almost $52 million worth of special stock options that are restricted and accelerated—meaning faster vesting.

While Yahoo's stock price has risen 134% during Mayer's tenure, that gain has to do with the smart investment in Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant of which Yahoo owns 15%. However, Yahoo's ownership in Alibaba is almost equal to Yahoo's current valuation—which is not a sign of a successful tenure.

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Mayer's severance package wouldn't be the biggest ever, however. Jack Welch of GE received $417 million worth of compensation when he left in 2001 and many other bigtime CEOs have received well over $100 million as the door hit them on the way out. While massive pay has been considered almost scandalous these days, it's nothing compared to being paid like that for doing, and in some cases, a disastrous job.