Mayer paid US$900,000-a-week despite Yahoo's continued decline

San Francisco

WHEN a withered Yahoo is absorbed by Verizon Communications in the next week or so, it will be the end of an era for one of the pioneering names of the Internet age.

It will also conclude the remarkable five-year run of Yahoo's chief executive, Marissa Mayer, who was paid nearly a quarter of a billion dollars - a generous sum even by Silicon Valley's lofty standards - while presiding over the company's continued decline.