Yahoo! chief Mayer paid $36.6 mn for six months' work

Yahoo! chief Marissa Mayer hauled in $36.6 million in pay, bonuses and stock last year after just six months at the helm of the Internet firm, with some of that time spent on maternity leave.

Yahoo! chief Marissa Mayer hauled in $36.6 million in pay, bonuses and stock last year after just six months at the helm of the Internet firm, with some of that time spent on maternity leave.

Mayer's base pay of $454,862 was fattened with a $1.12 million performance bonus and about $35 million in stock, according to a filing Tuesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mayer's annual base pay this year will be one million dollars and she is eligible for many times that amount in stock and bonuses if she hangs on to the post.

Beginning this year, Mayer will also be eligible to enjoy benefits generally available to other top Yahoo! executives, such as 20 days of vacation annually.

In addition to a $1 million annual salary, Mayer will get $2 million yearly in bonus cash if Yahoo! hits financial performance marks, according to paperwork filed with the SEC.

Mayer -- one of Google's first employees -- became one of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley when she was appointed Yahoo! chief executive in July.

She was the first female engineer at Google and among its high-ranking executives when she left for the Yahoo! post.

Mayer, who will turn 38 in May, gave birth to her first child in October.

Yahoo! has been re-inventing itself as a premier online content venue since the pioneering Internet search firm found itself withering in Google's shadow.