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Yahoo SEC Filing: Name change to Altaba Inc and director resignations

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Re: Yahoo SEC Filing: Name change to Altaba Inc and director resignations

#141

Post by flukus »

djsumdog wrote: post #55
akjainaj wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is absolutely no indication that anybody, other than Jesus Christ himself descending from the skies mounted on a Harley Davidson in flames, could have saved Yahoo. So, bashing Marissa here would be really, really pointless and sad.

I think back to Gillard and Australia. I liked her as a PM and felt that the reason she didn't make it is she simply wasn't heartless and evil enough to fight in that chaotic, insane and corrupt political environment. Abbott was and Rudd..ugh..something something party implosion; whatever. It has nothing to do with her being a women. There just aren't many people who can put up with that endless rubbish. With Yahoo,…

> I liked her as a PM and felt that the reason she didn't make it is she simply wasn't heartless and evil enough to fight in that chaotic, insane and corrupt political environment.

She became PM by playing that game. Her public persona was ruined because she played it too publicly and she should be held responsible for starting a decade long period of political instability.

Re: Yahoo SEC Filing: Name change to Altaba Inc and director resignations

#142

Post by mullingitover »

mortenjorck wrote: post #122
stanleydrew wrote: post #22

Rather than the inevitable bashing of Marissa that will undoubtedly unfurl on this thread, I'd like to put in a little reminder that we usually celebrate taking on big projects and big risks and that we should commend her for taking on the immense challenge of steadying the Yahoo ship. Yes, she wasn't able to keep the ship from sinking. But I do think she put in a good-faith effort.

As an enthusiast photographer, she did one great thing in my book: She oversaw the attempted revitalization of Flickr. The old Flickr product and UI had stagnated for the better part of a decade, and under her administration, Yahoo rebooted a lot of the core experience. Some parts were rebooted more successfully than others, but on the balance, it was for the better.

She did the bare minimum that needed to be done to keep flickr alive, I'm not sure it's worthy of praise. Flickr is currently comatose or dead, given that they haven't updated their mobile app in over a year, let alone anything else on the site. Yahoo could've used flickr to pre-empt YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram all in one, but Yahoo instead neglected it and ran it into the ground. I feel bad for the engineering talent that Yahoo wasted, but the executive leadership deserves nothing but scorn. They missed so many huge opportunities.

Re: Yahoo SEC Filing: Name change to Altaba Inc and director resignations

#143

Post by voidz »

protomyth wrote: post #35

Was Marissa Mayer expected to stay with the investment company, move over to Verizon with the Yahoo property, or leave entirely?

She'll be rebranded as Marwassa Nothx and offered a lead position in the archiving department.

(Ok, I think I've reached my joke quota. sorry, dang et al!)

Re: Yahoo SEC Filing: Name change to Altaba Inc and director resignations

#144

Post by AbrahamParangi »

stanleydrew wrote: post #116
idlewords wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She was very well compensated for her time sinking Yahoo. I think this kind of tone policing is unhealthy.

Upvoted since I think this discussion might be interesting. I'm wondering why people focus on financial compensation so much? Why does how much someone was paid justify more or less bashing, as the case might be? And what's unhealthy about tone policing? I'll leave aside the way you've negatively framed my attempt to steer the conversation in a more positive direction, and just say that I don't see what the purpose o…

I think the comment you're responding to is suggesting that though giving someone (Mayer) the benefit of the doubt might be humane, it may not be, strictly speaking, rationally appropriate.

I believe the financial compensation angle is that because she was particularly well compensated, she is perceived to not have much skin in the game. As an aside, I don't think this is especially productive because it is incredibly rare to find someone running a company who isn't deeply emotionally invested in that enterprise, but the perception remains.

Obviously, though the crowd wants to excoriate Mayer I think if folks have a problem with her compensation they should look to the board.

Re: Yahoo SEC Filing: Name change to Altaba Inc and director resignations

#145

Post by kchoudhu »

idlewords wrote: post #69
stanleydrew wrote: post #22

Rather than the inevitable bashing of Marissa that will undoubtedly unfurl on this thread, I'd like to put in a little reminder that we usually celebrate taking on big projects and big risks and that we should commend her for taking on the immense challenge of steadying the Yahoo ship. Yes, she wasn't able to keep the ship from sinking. But I do think she put in a good-faith effort.

She was very well compensated for her time sinking Yahoo. I think this kind of tone policing is unhealthy.

I'm guessing her resignation comes with a hefty price tag as well. I'll be very interested to hear what that actual numbers are.

Re: Yahoo SEC Filing: Name change to Altaba Inc and director resignations

#146

Post by thinkloop »

stanleydrew wrote: post #116
idlewords wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She was very well compensated for her time sinking Yahoo. I think this kind of tone policing is unhealthy.

Upvoted since I think this discussion might be interesting. I'm wondering why people focus on financial compensation so much? Why does how much someone was paid justify more or less bashing, as the case might be? And what's unhealthy about tone policing? I'll leave aside the way you've negatively framed my attempt to steer the conversation in a more positive direction, and just say that I don't see what the purpose o…

> And what's unhealthy about tone policing?

It silences discussion by subtly and indirectly labeling any critics as bad guys.

Not all tone policing is bad, HN is the king of good tone policing, I don't think this makes it.

For example, I like your non-tone related points, and I'm glad they were able to come out!

Re: Yahoo SEC Filing: Name change to Altaba Inc and director resignations

#147

Post by thaumaturgy »

idlewords wrote: post #69
stanleydrew wrote: post #22

Rather than the inevitable bashing of Marissa that will undoubtedly unfurl on this thread, I'd like to put in a little reminder that we usually celebrate taking on big projects and big risks and that we should commend her for taking on the immense challenge of steadying the Yahoo ship. Yes, she wasn't able to keep the ship from sinking. But I do think she put in a good-faith effort.

She was very well compensated for her time sinking Yahoo. I think this kind of tone policing is unhealthy.

(reasonable) tone policing helps prevent a bunch of armchair quarterbacks with modestly successful programming backgrounds from assuming they have any idea what happens at the executive level of a company like Yahoo.

Re: Yahoo SEC Filing: Name change to Altaba Inc and director resignations

#148

Post by prostoalex »

xapata wrote: post #90
darkr wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also the excessive pay then by that logic?

Yes, the pay is excessive and probably unnecessary, but BoDs that approve it are often comprised of CEOs at other companies. Quid pro quo. CEO compensation increased dramatically at around the same time that the finance sector started capturing a bigger chunk of the GDP, which is around the same time that many large companies created mini hedge funds internally. Maybe it's more to do with that, but the country club n…

Her financial compensation largely depended on stock performance, as is typical with anyone involved at the C-level. A share of YHOO is worth $41 today vs $15 (and lower teens) at the time of her hire five years back.

If the YHOO stock was anywhere near 2012 levels (or lower, or zero), her total compensation would look very different.

Re: Yahoo SEC Filing: Name change to Altaba Inc and director resignations

#149

Post by willbw »

djsumdog wrote: post #55
akjainaj wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is absolutely no indication that anybody, other than Jesus Christ himself descending from the skies mounted on a Harley Davidson in flames, could have saved Yahoo. So, bashing Marissa here would be really, really pointless and sad.

I think back to Gillard and Australia. I liked her as a PM and felt that the reason she didn't make it is she simply wasn't heartless and evil enough to fight in that chaotic, insane and corrupt political environment. Abbott was and Rudd..ugh..something something party implosion; whatever. It has nothing to do with her being a women. There just aren't many people who can put up with that endless rubbish. With Yahoo,…

As a backstabber she beget more backstabbing. I think you need to assign a little more blame for the political instability in Australia to her.

Re: Yahoo SEC Filing: Name change to Altaba Inc and director resignations

#150

Post by gniv »

pgodzin wrote: post #124
jinglbox wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve Jobs worked himself to the bone and took zero money for years when he was trying to save Apple. That's what a good faith effort looks like. If he had failed he would have wasted years and got nothing in return. If Mayer had done this I would be impressed. But Mayer had no vision, didn't put in the effort required, and milked Yahoo for a hundred million dollars she didn't earn. Silicon Valley loves failure like…

Not sure why a "good faith effort" requires taking such a crazy amount of personal risk. Yahoo was willing to pay millions to the exec they thought had the best chance to turn the company around. She should have declined that and and unnecessarily played on Extra Hard mode instead?

That's why the responsibility was on the board to find somebody willing and capable of playing Extra Hard.
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