When Yahoo removed Henrique De Castro as its COO, it wasn’t clear how much loot he was going to take with him. The final tally, revealed today in an SEC filing that also detailed Yahoo’s board nominations, has the figure: $58 million.
Or, more precisely, $57.96 million. That includes cash, restricted stock units that vested over time, stock options linked to performance, and so-called Make-Whole RSUs. The total tally breaks down as follows:
While the cash portion of De Castro’s exit is minimal compared to the larger sum of his exit, Yahoo shareholders will pay for his departure all the same. The company created the chart above, adding that it illustrates the fact that his cost to remove was greatly impacted by its rising stock price. In short, Yahoo makes the point that the cost of this embarrassing episode would have been far less had the company not done so darn well in the public markets.
That’s an effective way to decrease dissent.
Whatever the case, the episode is now behind the Internet firm, and will likely quickly be forgotten as anything more than a past, if expensive, mistake. In the wake of Yahoo’s positive most-recent quarterly results, I doubt there will be too much carping among the investing class.