Yahoo! Really Pays for New CEO Carol Bartz

Nice work Carol, managing to get an annual base salary of $1 million, plus a yearly bonus of around $2 million to as much as $4 million out of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) at a time like this is a job well done, but that's not the best part.

However, according to reports, Bartz told Yahoo employees Wednesday that while she's made no related decisions yet, her gut feeling was to not sell Yahoo's search business.

Sure, after Jerry Yang turned down the $47.5 billion buyout offer from Microsoft nearly a year ago, I'm sure better offers will come ASAP.

Yahoo! Inc. shares are now at $11 and change, they haven't been at that level since 2003.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Bartz also said she has spoken with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer since assuming the top job at Yahoo, though she described the conversation as "informal" and did not go into detail.

Bartz's annual bonus will be determined by the board's compensation committee based on the company and Bartz's performance. She will also receive stock options for 5,000,000 Yahoo shares.

That should help Yahoo! shares, nice.

Associated Press

New Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz