April 19, 2010: Marissa Mayer, the freshly minted CEO of Yahoo, attends the 2010 Matrix Awards presented by the New York Women in Communications at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)
The newly elected 37-year-old CEO Yahoo released her first words of advice to the crew -- and Yahoo released details of her lavish compensation.
Yahoo is giving its new chief executive Marissa Mayer a compensation package worth more than $59 million over the next several years, according to a a regulatory filing Thursday, including an annual salary of $1 million.
She's also eligible for a $2 million bonus, and $12 million in restricted stock and stock options that will vest over the next three years.
It’s no wonder Mayer “couldn’t be more excited to be here,” she wrote in a “prvilieged and confidential memo” obtained by the AllThingsDigital website.
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“I couldn’t be more excited to be here — thank you for the warm welcome over the past two days!,” Mayer gushes in the memo. “I can’t wait to get to know more about Yahoo’s products, culture, and all of you. I’ve always had a deep respect for Yahoo! — I first experienced it as a student at Stanford in 1994 as “David and Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web” — and I’ve been fan ever since.”
Mayer has some ideas, she told the Yahooligans, but wanted to convey one thing above all else: don’t stop.
“I need to develop a more informed perspective before making strategy or direction changes. In the meantime, please do not stop. You are doing important work. Please don’t stop.”
“With the exception of a few things that might heavily constrain us in the future, the answer is most likely: “Yes, keep moving.”
Mayer, who is 37 and was lured away from Google Inc., will also receive $30 million in the form of a one-time retention award if she stays at Yahoo for 5 years.
Google Inc. never disclosed Mayer's compensation during her 13-year career at the Internet search leader.
But Mayer struck it rich when Google went public in 2004. She joined Google in 1999 as its 20th employees and accumulated stock options that yielded a jackpot the company's stock soared from its initial public offering price of $85 to nearly $750.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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