Yahoo has been through a whirlwind of events in the past years. The company has been hacked multiple times and it has also gone through a roller coaster ride with Verizon. The two companies' supposed merger is no longer big news but Verizon had to reduce its offer multiple times due to the discovered breaches.
Yahoo Executives Face Consequences
Now, things are getting more intense as Yahoo's top lawyer resigns from the company and Yahoo's CEO has to redistribute her own bonus. This is following the company's internal investigations regarding the recorded hacks. As per Business Insider, Yahoo conducted an internal investigation and has led to the conclusion that its executives did not handle the security breaches properly. This certain breach resulted in the theft of users' information that includes their names, phone numbers and even dates of birth.
Just this Wednesday, Yahoo has disclosed on its yearly report that the company could be facing criminal penalties due to the incident. Apparently, several government agencies are now looking into the matter. Additionally, Yahoo is already facing 43 putative consumer class action lawsuits in relation to the hackings.
Yahoo CEO Surrenders Own Bonus
As a result to all these, Marissa Mayer, Yahoo's CEO, did not get her 2016 bonus amounting to up to $2 million. On top of that, she voluntarily surrenders her 2017 bonus alongside her approximately $12 million equity grants. This money will be redistributed to Yahoo employees. Ronald Bell, on the other hand, terminated his job as Yahoo's general counsel.
Yahoo's Mishandling Of Hacking Incidents
The problem with Yahoo's handling of the security breaches was that its executives did not properly investigate the attacks. Recode said that Mayer actually did mean to run such loose security ship. Also, the company's security department has known of the hacks in 2015 and 2016 but the Yahoo did not disclose it to the public immediately. Nevertheless, the findings also clarified that there was no intentional suppression of relevant information. This means that Yahoo did not maliciously hide the breaches both from the users and Verizon. The company even had to suffer the consequences of Verizon reducing its offer by hundreds of millions.
