One of Yahoo’s former advertising consultants, Michael Katz, has filed a lawsuit against the company claiming the search giant cheated him out of his retention bonus by firing him just weeks before it was due to be paid.
Katz is the founder of New York based online-advertising technology company, Interclick, which was acquired by Yahoo for about $270m in 2011.
According to the lawsuit filed in New York state court, Katz said he was promised continued employment during the acquisition and several annual payments of $1.35m as well as other compensation.
The lawsuit states that Yahoo’s head of human resources fired Katz in a bar two weeks before he was scheduled to receive the first payment of his bonus.
The lawsuit comes seven months after Google executive Marissa Mayer was appointed as Yahoo’s new president and CEO. Mayer has a challenge on her hands to bring innovative products and content to users and advertisers.
Yahoo reported a 2% rise in its revenue to $1.35bn for the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to $1.32bn it reported for the corresponding quarter in 2011.
