Yahoo's departing CFO to get annual salary, bonus as severance

Tim Morse, Yahoo Inc's departing chief financial officer, will leave the company with a severance package in accordance with a termination without cause, the company said in a regulatory filing Wednesday.

According to the filing, Morse's severance includes 12 months' salary, an additional bonus of 12 months' pay as well as part of his 2013 bonus, and early vesting of stock awards.

Morse's last official day with Yahoo will be November 15.

One of the first major decisions made by Marissa Mayer, Yahoo's new chief executive was to replace Morse with Fortinet Inc CFO Ken Goldman, who was named to the position on September 25.

Goldman is due to receive up to $18 million in salary, bonuses, restricted stock, and stock options over the next four years, according to a regulatory filing made a day after his hiring. That is broken down into $1.1 million in salary and bonus, restricted stock and performance-based stock options worth as much as $12 million that will vest over four years, and about $1.2 million in restricted stock to make up for compensation lost for leaving Fortinet that will vest over 12 months.

Morse, who joined Yahoo in 2009, served as the company's interim CEO for five months from September 2011 to January 2012 after the firing of Carol Bartz and before the hiring of Scott Thompson. His five months as interim CEO turned out to be one month longer than Thompson's tenure - the former PayPal executive was ousted after it was revealed he lied on his resume.

Morse is credited with being the driving force behind Yahoo's recent $7.6 billion deal with Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group. In that deal, which was negotiated on-and-off for months before being sealed over the summer, Yahoo sold about half of its 40 percent stake in Alibaba.

© Thomson Reuters 2012