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Yahoo Senior VP Sandy Gould Latest Executive To Leave The Company

Yahoo ( YHOO ) has confirmed that Senior Vice President of Talent Acquisition and Development Sandy Gould will become the latest high-profile executive to leave the struggling Internet firm helmed by CEO Marissa Mayer. Yahoo has recently implemented layoffs and begun the process of selling itself and spinning off its hefty stake in China’s Alibaba Group ( BABA ), while it’s also in the midst of a proxy fight seeking to oust its entire board. “I have decided to leave Yahoo. It’s time to take a break and decide my next adventure,” said Gould in a statement sent to IBD on Friday. “I have had an amazing experience working for Yahoo. It has been transformational, and I have loved the learning, mission, people, and the opportunity to work with Marissa. The recruiting team and community at Yahoo are incredible. I have loved building and unleashing the superpowers of Yahoo employees. The stories I will proudly tell will be of amazing experiences, loyal devotion, of a brilliant CEO and an incredible and passionate leadership team! Leaving Yahoo is the hardest leaving I have ever done. Yahoo will always be in my heart.” Gould joined Yahoo three years ago after stints at Disney ( DIS )/ABC Television Group, Linden Labs/Second Life and RealNetworks,  according to Re/Code . Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is under intensified pressure from major investor Starboard Value, which wants change. Starboard said last week that since Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and others in the company’s leadership “have repeatedly failed shareholders,” the hedge fund wants to sweep out all of the ailing Web company’s directors and replace them with its own slate. Yahoo’s revenue growth has stalled for nearly a decade as ad dollars continued to slip away to rivals, including Facebook ( FB ), Netflix ( NFLX ), Alphabet ( GOOGL ) unit Google and high-profile startups Snapchat and Pinterest, among others. Yahoo has reportedly received interest from as many as 40 groups who have until April 11 to submit preliminary bids for its core business and Asian assets. Yahoo stock was down a fraction in afternoon trading in the stock market today , near 36.

Citi Cuts Amazon, NFLX, Google Price Targets On Stock Compensation

Citigroup slashed its price target on LinkedIn and also lowered its targets on shares of  Amazon.com ( AMZN ), Alphabet ( GOOGL ), Facebook ( FB ) and Netflix ( NFLX ) in a report that takes a close look at the earnings dilution from stock compensation grants. Tech companies, and some others, typically report both non-GAAP (generally accepted accounted principles) earnings — which exclude stock grants to employees, among other items — and earnings under GAAP, which include everything. Financial analysts typically provide non-GAAP estimates for quarterly results, and those numbers frequently get more play in quarterly earnings stories in the business press. “We are adjusting our models and price targets to better reflect the impact of stock-based compensation (SBC),” said Citigroup analyst Mark May in the research report. “Some may say this is a bear market issue, but we believe it is a necessary change that is long overdue.” Citigroup cut its price target on LinkedIn ( LNKD ) to 130 from 194. It lowered Amazon’s price target to 760 from 780, Google-owner Alphabet’s target to 900 from 924, Netflix to 116 from 121, and Facebook to 133 from 134. Citigroup maintained buy ratings on Amazon, Facebook and Google. It has neutral ratings on LinkedIn and Netflix. In morning trading on the stock market today , LinkedIn stock was near 115, Amazon near 597, Alphabet near 763, Netflix near 104, and Facebook near 115. All were up a fraction except Netflix, which was up 2%. The report also looks at the stock-based compensation of eBay ( EBAY ), Twitter ( TWTR ) and Yahoo ( YHOO ). “While most (investors) view Twitter as having the highest stock-based compensation ratio, LinkedIn’s grants as a percentage of revenue are higher than Twitter, and LinkedIn saw this ratio increase last year,” said the report. “While most view Amazon as having high stock-based compensation, it actually ranks near Netflix as among the lowest. Facebook ranks high, but grants declined last year, and its revenue growth, profitability and stock price performance provide important offsets. “The impact of stock-based compensation provides additional reason to remain cautious on LinkedIn and Twitter. “Unlike some people, we do not think stock-based compensation should be treated as a cash expense, mostly because it is in fact not a cash item. Instead, we account for it consistent with what it is — an ongoing source of dilution to equity holders.” According to Citigroup, on a percentage of revenue basis, the company with the highest stock compensation grants in 2015 was LinkedIn, followed by Twitter, Yahoo, Facebook, Google, eBay, Amazon and Netflix, respectively.

Yahoo CEO Mayer Gets A Bigger Golden Parachute If The Company Sells

Yahoo ( YHOO ) CEO Marissa Mayer has a bit of extra incentive to sell the ailing Internet company, which is facing a proxy fight. According to CNN Money, Mayer gets $37 million if she’s fired after selling the Sunnyvale-based company, under the terms of her employment contract . But she’ll be paid only $12.5 million if she’s let go without a sale. In that case, Mayer would take home $1 million in salary, a $2 million cash bonus and $9.5 million in stock that would vest in 2016, the report says . But being ousted after a sale significantly ups the ante by triggering “the release of all her stock awards. In virtually any other scenario, Mayer would have needed to stay at Yahoo for a certain period of time in order to cash out those rewards,” said CNN Money. In either scenario, her golden parachute will be worth significantly less now than it was a year ago, since the price of Yahoo stock has fallen 18% over the past 12 months. On Wednesday, Yahoo stock rose a fraction, to 36.56. A year ago, Mayer would have taken home $110 million had she lost her job because of Yahoo’s sale and $26 million if she was let go without a sale, the report said. Mayer, who joined Yahoo in 2012, earned $42 million in cash and stocks in 2014, CNN Money said. Her 2015 compensation is expected to be reported next month. Sale or not, Yahoo is facing rough waters. Last week, in a letter charging the current board of Yahoo with failing to deliver results for its shareholders, activist investor Starboard Value announced that it wants to sweep out all of the ailing Web company’s nine directors and replace them with its own slate during Yahoo’s 2016 shareholder meeting. The letter — from Starboard Value managing member Jeffrey Smith, one of Starboard’s slate of Yahoo board nominees — indicates that Starboard also doesn’t trust Yahoo’s current directors to perform in terms of either the strategic review of Yahoo’s core search and display-ad business or with the eventual fate of Yahoo’s 15% stake in China e-commerce giant Alibaba Group ( BABA ) and its holdings in Yahoo Japan. Yahoo this month appointed two members to its board, Catherine Friedman, a former managing director at Morgan Stanley ( MS ), and Eric Brandt, a former chief financial officer of Broadcom ( AVGO ). Yahoo’s revenue growth has stalled for nearly a decade as ad dollars continue to slip away to rivals including Facebook ( FB ), Netflix ( NFLX ), Alphabet ( GOOGL )-unit Google, and others that include high-profile startups Snapchat and Pinterest. Yahoo has reportedly gotten interest from as many as 40 groups who have until April 11 to submit preliminary bids for its core business and Asian operations.