The blogosphere is constantly questioning the benefits of keeping Terry Semel on Board for Yahoo! Terry has been Yahoo!’s CEO since May 2001 and Yahoo! fans are upset about Semel’s Yahoo! previous acquisition inactions.
Google had come to Yahoo! for an acquisition at one point, but then, later on, turned down a $3 billion offer. Despite Semel’s advisors insisting that Google was valued at roughly $5 billion or more, Semel did not follow through with a higher acquisition price. Today, Google is valued at over $157 billion.
During 2003-2006, Semel earned $450 million in stock option exercising. And last year, Semel earned $71.7 million in stock options and a $1 salary.
The Board of Yahoo! was approved of by 66% of the shareholders versus last year’s 95%. “Yahoo says the package ensures that ‘substantially all’ of Mr. Semel’s compensation is tied to the company’s performance,” stated Riva Richmond of the Wall Street Journal.
Yahoo! is still the #1 search engine and now owns some of the top Internet properties including del.icio.us and Flickr, but it appears by the shareholder vote that they want more. We may see some big moves by Yahoo! in the near future.
