When news came out about the big pay sweepstakes Marissa Mayer would enjoy once she is booted out of her Yahoo CEO job, practically every news outlet reported it with varying shock and dismay.
Yahoo filed an amended 10-K document last Friday which disclosed what Mayer will receive within a year after Yahoo is sold. Potentially, she will net almost $55 million in cash severance, accelerated stock options, and a number of benefits.
Other CEOs such as Mark Hurd, who was fired from his post as Hewlett-Packard CEO, due to sexual misconduct was given a severance pay of $40 million.
Leo Apotheker, also an HP CEO, only stayed 11 months on his job before he was booted out, was provided a severance pay of $25 million.
And then there is Sanjay Jha, former Motorola Mobility CEO. He was fired from his job in 2012 within two years after Google bought the company. Jha received a very generous $64.3 million sweepstakes from his former company.
However, he could have received only $11 million, if there is no sale that took place. Meaning, CEOs have the potential to receive more if they are fired from their jobs after their companies are sold.
Therefore, Mayer's massive payoff is not unique in the business. She's not the only company chief executive who will enjoy such massive payoffs and perks after they are kicked out of office.
Data shows that companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Twitter, LinkedIn, eBay, PayPal, and AOL are among those that will give their CEO hefty sums if their companies are sold or acquired by another firm.
Here are some hard facts. An HP CEO will receive more than $90 million dollar post sale, but only $51 million no sale.
The CEO of LinkedIn will receive almost $32 million post-sale, but only less than $5 million no sale.
