Mayer names former Googler to be Yahoo COO
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer appointed another former Google employee as her chief operations officer on Monday, her first day back at work since the birth of her baby.
Henrique de Castro, previously vice president of Google's worldwide partner business solutions group, will join the company by Jan. 22, and will report directly to Mayer. He will manage Yahoo's sales, operations, media and business development worldwide, the company said.
Reports surfaced in August that the company was searching for a COO with "turnaround experience."
In a prepared statement, Mayer praised De Castro's experience in operating an online advertising business and in building up a global organization.
Before joining Google, De Castro managed Dell's Western European sales and business development activities, and before that was a consultant at McKinsey & Co.
De Castro needs a visa to work in the U.S., and if he has not obtained one by the time he joins Yahoo, he will be based in London and work for the company's U.K. subsidiary, according to a Yahoo filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The filing revealed that Yahoo will pay De Castro a salary of $600,000 and a performance-related bonus worth around $540,000. He will also receive a one-time retention award worth up to $36 million in stock and performance-based stock options and a further $1 million in cash and $20 million in stock to compensate him for the earnings he forfeited by leaving Google.
Mayer herself has only recently joined the company from Google. Yahoo announced Mayer's appointment as CEO on July 16 and she started the next day.
Her predecessor, Scott Thompson, resigned in May after just five months on the job, following a scandal over misrepresentation of his academic qualifications.
Last month she appointed Ken Goldman as CFO to replace Tim Morse, who will leave Yahoo by year-end. Goldman has a long track record as a CFO in the tech industry, having worked most recently at security company Fortinet and before that at Siebel Systems, Excite@Home, Sybase and chip makers Cypress Semiconductor and VLSI Technology, according to Yahoo.
Mayer will reveal some details of her plans for Yahoo during a conference call with financial analysts on Oct. 22, the company has said.
She announced her return to work on Monday with a Twitter message: "My first full day back in the office, and I'm excited to kick it off by announcing my new COO, Henrique de Castro."
Her previous message was a retweet of husband Zachary Bogue's Oct. 1 announcement of the birth of their son: "Baby boy Bogue born last night. Mom (@marissamayer) and baby are doing great -- we couldn't be more excited!"
(Source: computerworld.com)
