Monday, July 30, 2012
It's Official: Ross Levinsohn Out At Yahoo
Ross Levinsohn, who has been heading up Yahoo as Interim CEO, is officially leaving the firm tomorrow, according to a regulatory filing by Yahoo. According to the filing, Levinsohn has been awarded 67,000 restricted stock units and 250,000 stock options, plus a cash severance equal to his base salary for 12 months, targeted annual bonus for 12 months, and prorated annual bonus for 2013, in addition to 12 months of health benefits via CORBA and accelerated vesting of the stock options he was granted. The move is not at all surprising or unexpected, given Yahoo's hiring of former Googler Marissa Mayer as CEO earlier this month.
The move might actually be a positive one for Southern California, given that Levinsohn had been pulled away from investing and helping Southern California startups in 2010, when he was tapped by then Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz to aid Yahoo. At the time, Levinsohn had just formed a Los Angeles venture capital fund, Fuse Capital, in a deal with Best Buy, and invested in at least one company here, Tecca. Levinsohn was responsible for one of Southern California's biggest exit successes -- the acquisition of MySpace by News Corporation in 2005 for $480M, when he headed up News Corporation's interactive media division. Levinsohn has not said what he'll do next after his stint as Yahoo CEO.