Yahoo Golden Parachute Plan to Take Effect
There’d be no reason for the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, if Yahoo! wasn’t afraid that it will soon be outmaneuvered by the Redmond software giant. The golden parachute plan revolves around the particular eventuality of a change-in-control severance, and it has two standing points.
Employees and executives being laid off in the first two years after
the eventual takeover will be given four months to two years’ pay, depending on the position they had when fired. To prevent any attempt to minimalize costs on Microsoft’s behalf, such as, say, demoting everybody so that the severance pay is littler, there was a clause inserted that includes employees leaving for good reasons and the above is a damned good one.
It doesn’t mean that Microsoft will actually do it, it would be a faux pas without precedent and the turning point of the public’s opinion of the company, and you have got to admit that the Redmond giant isn’t exactly looked at with love wherever it turns.
Health and dental coverage for the length of the employees’ severance awards is included, "as well as reimbursement of outplacement services up to two years, or a maximum of $15,000, depending on job title," news.com reports. The packages are set up to accomplish several things: "help retain the employees, help maintain a stable work environment and provide certain economic benefits to the employees in the event their employment is terminated (under certain circumstances)," as Yahoo wrote in the filing.
Fun fact: the golden parachute also covers Yahoo!’s Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang, and should he leave under the explained circumstances, he too would be eligible for the severance packages. However, I couldn’t say that his leaving and getting two years’ worth of pay would bleed Microsoft dry, as his annual salary is only $1.
Source: news.softpedia.com
