TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2014 - Day 3 (Photo : Getty Images)
While Yahoo's shareprices continue to be on a downward trajectory, the company's expenses ar moving the opposite direction. Stockholders mainly blame CEO Marissa Mayer's management style that allows unbridled expenses.
Besides shouldering the botox injection of an editor and paying for an $8,000 luxury bed used for a photoshoot, Yahoo also pays for three meals a day of the employees. The latest expense, which observers believe would finally cost Mayer her job soon as the highest-paid tech CEO, is the lavish Christmas party of Yahoo.
The yearend party, according to ABC, was held at Pier 48, a rented warehouse in San Francisco's waterfront, with a Great Gatsby theme. Besides the rental bill of $7 million, Yahoo also paid for party paraphernalia, including chandeliers, flappers and a Rolls Royce.
There was also a white throne where "Queen" Marissa, who wore a sequined gown, sat and posed for photos with Yahoo employees.
On an ordinary working day, other perks that Yahoo workers enjoy, with the bill shouldered by the company, are transport to and from their residence to its office in Sunnyvale. The three daily meals is estimated to cost Yahoo $150 million a year. There was also a free iPhone for all 22,000 employees and Jawbone UP fitness wristbands to 11,000 workers who were close to Mayer when she marked one year as CEO.
Even in terms of investments, Yahoo spent over the last three years $3 billion on mergers and acquisitions. But these outgoing money has not resulted in added-value to the ailing company.
Given these poor business strategies, there appears to be some truth to the observation by a New York University professor that Mayer should have been booted from Yahoo. However, she was saved - not by the bell - but the twin girls in her tummy who were born this month.
News.com.au describes Mayer as being "tone deaf to excess." It adds that the total $450 million perks spent during Mayer's term is half the value of Instagram, estimated at $1 billion, says Eric Jackson, managing director of SpringOwl Asset Management, who called for the head of Mayer in a 99-page report.
