After a two-week maternity leave, Yahoo's chief executive, Marissa Mayer, is back at work with one of her former Google colleagues in tow. (She alerted everyone to her dedication to work via Twitter.)
Ms. Mayer also announced Monday that she had hired Henrique De Castro, a vice president at Google, as Yahoo's chief operating officer. Yahoo lured Mr. De Castro with a hefty pay package that according to a regulatory filing will include a $600,000 base salary plus a bonus that - depending how he performs - could be worth twice that much. Mr. De Castro will also receive $36 million in stock, half of that as a one-time retention equity award and the other half as performance-based stock options.
Most recently, Mr. De Castro led Google's worldwide partner business solutions group, where he headed up advertising platforms and services for Google's publisher and commerce partners. Luring advertisers back to Yahoo is a top priority for the company. Yahoo was once the b iggest seller of display ads in the United States, but ceded that crown to Facebook and Google last year.
“Henrique is an incredibly accomplished and rigorous business leader, and I'm personally excited to have him join Yahoo's strong leadership team,†Ms. Mayer said in a statement. “His operational experience in Internet advertising and his proven success in structuring and scaling
global organizations make him the perfect fit for Yahoo as we propel the business to its next phase of growth.â€
Before his current position, Mr. De Castro led Google's media, platforms and mobile division. That mobile experience should come in handy at Yahoo, where the company has yet to formulate a mobile strategy.
Mr. De Castro has been with Google since 2006. Before that, he served in various positions at Dell and McKinsey & Company. He is expected to start on Jan. 22.
