Silicon Alley Insider turned up a defender of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang's change-in-control severance package — someone bold enough to join Yahoo in May. (Confused? A tip: Just remember that the phrase "joining Yahoo" is the opposite of the more commonly used phrase "leaving Yahoo.") Critics called the plan, whose cost was estimated at as high as $2.5 billion, a "poison pill," saying it creates incentive for employees to leave the company after an acquisition.

The newcomer's name is Eran Hammer-Lahav and, despite what they say about the fervor of new converts, even he's not very optimistic about Yahoo's state. He told Silicon Alley Insider: "Without the plan, I would not have joined Yahoo -– a move that would have been extremely risky, like say, running into a burning building."(Photo by Petteri Sulonen)

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