Henrique de Castro, the chief operating officer of Yahoo, will leave the company on Thursday, Yahoo announced on Wednesday in a report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
No reason was given for his the abrupt departure of de Castro, one of Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer’s top managers. He was responsible for managing Yahoo’s sales, operations, media and business development worldwide.
Mayer recruited him in 2012 shortly after she left Google to take the helm at Yahoo.
The publication Adweek reported in September that de Castro was feeling increasing pressure to deliver better ad results. It said then that numerous sources predicted he would be gone by the end of the year.
De Castro is among the top earners at Yahoo, pulling down $39 million in 2012 alone. He is entitled to severance benefits, Yahoo’s message to the SEC said.