Yahoo's Marissa Mayer loses millions over breach

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer on Wednesday agreed to forgo any annual equity award she might get for 2017 because of the massive breach her company suffered in 2014. The Yahoo board also voted to withhold her 2016 annual bonus — usually around $2 million— for the same reason

Under her contract, her equity award is not to be less than $12 million per year.

The announcement came as information about Yahoo's financial data and its sale to Verizon was posted with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The filing also said that Yahoo's general counsel Ronald S. Bell was resigning from the company and would get no payout in connection with his resignation.

Her reason for giving up her equity award was that she is the company's CEO and that the 2014 breach happened during her tenure.

That breach, launched according to Yahoo by a state-sponsored actor (i.e. someone working for another government) affected data belonging to at least 500 million members.

Who knew what, when?

A separate question has been whether Yahoo executives knew, or should have known, about the 2014 breach and should have notified Verizon when discussions about a purchase began in the summer of 2016.

The SEC filing says that the independent committee created to investigate the breach found that senior Yahoo executives and relevant legal staff were aware that a state-sponsored actor had accessed certain accounts in late 2014. At the time, Yahoo believed that only 26 specifically targeted users were affected and that it notified them and consulted with law enforcement, according to the filing.

At the time of the investigation the committee “did not conclude that there was an intentional suppression of relevant information,” the filing said.