
Mozilla in 2013 paid CEO $801k, Director $779k, and Treasurer $613k (p. 47) - angrymozuser
https://static.mozilla.com/moco/en-US/pdf/2013_Mozilla_Foundation_Fed_990_Public_Disclosure.pdf
======
angrymozuser
Disgusting that a "non-profit" that begs for donations and unpaid labor from
volunteers makes millionaires of its executives. How many salaried programmers
on Earth, let alone at Mozilla, get paid that well?

At Mozilla, developers are paid below market salaries and don't get private
offices. Meanwhile, Mozilla took in $314 million in revenue in 2013 and $311
million the year prior--more than enough to pay its programmers well and give
them decent working conditions.

The managers at Mozilla should be paid less than the lowest-paid full-time
programmer.

~~~
smt88
"Non-profit" doesn't always mean "charity". It's a tax designation reserved
for organizations that are dedicated to public good. It doesn't imply that the
people working there aren't top-tier professionals who should command high
salaries.

You say that the programmers are paid below market rate -- so are the
executives. A CEO of a company with $314M in revenue will rarely make that
little in the for-profit world.

There's a lot of room for debate here, but calling the situation disgusting is
over-simplifying it.

And as for their tax-exempt status and mission, I'm personally going to
benefit a huge amount from just Rust. I think a lot of people are. It's hard
to put a dollar amount on innovations like that.

~~~
angrymozuser
> "Non-profit" doesn't always mean "charity". It's a tax designation reserved
> for organizations that are dedicated to public good. It doesn't imply that
> the people working there aren't top-tier professionals who should command
> high salaries.

Mozilla behaves like a charity, shaking down its users for donations that are
tax-deductible. The Salvation Army has $3.75 billion in revenue and its Chief
is paid $238,009[1].

> You say that the programmers are paid below market rate -- so are the
> executives. A CEO of a company with $314M in revenue will rarely make that
> little in the for-profit world.

CEOs pay is absolutely out of control[2], and using that as a baseline for
what you think non-profit CEO salaries should be is absurd. Do you seriously
think it would be that difficult to find people as equally competent as Baker
and Eich to do their jobs for $100k? It's not like Mozilla is winning anyway;
its flagship product has been losing market share for years.

> There's a lot of room for debate here, but calling the situation disgusting
> is over-simplifying it.

No it isn't. Mozilla's success, or what's left of it, is due to the
programmers, designers, testers, and users who contribute to it. Fat cat
managers shouldn't be getting rich off of their (often unpaid) labor.
Taylorism has no place at an open source software foundation.

[1]
[http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/14/charities-11_Salvation-A...](http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/14/charities-11_Salvation-
Army_CH0144.html)

[2] [http://www.epi.org/publication/pay-corporate-executives-
fina...](http://www.epi.org/publication/pay-corporate-executives-financial-
professionals/)

~~~
moron4hire
Except this isn't about Mozilla Foundation, it's about Mozilla Corporation,
which is most definitely not a non-profit.

------
circuiter
Well, looks like this thread got nuked. I was just about to post the the (much
smaller) Wikimedia Form 990 if anyone was interested:

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/7/76/Form_...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/7/76/Form_990_-_FY_13-14_-_Public2.pdf)

------
brador
Let's say people were angry about the pocket integration/deal and wanted to
get the Mozilla CEO replaced.

How would they do this?

~~~
moron4hire
Make the Mozilla Corporation less profitable. Since they make the vast
majority of their money from search engine contracts, basically, stop using
Firefox.

~~~
brador
Is there a board? Shareholders? Anyone who could vote a replacement CEO
through or get the bad one removed?

~~~
moron4hire
A board, yes. Shareholders, IDK how that works for private companies. But
you're begging the question as to whether or not Chris Beard is a bad CEO. And
you and everyone else can only prove it by voting with your feet.

~~~
brador
Since they get the cashmoney from the sponsoring search company/ies doesn't
that (in web 2.0 language) make us (Firefox users) the product?

So literally, the only thing we can do is to stop using Firefox and wait it
out?

Is there any way to block the install reporting? or to keep using Firefox
without passing on the "hits" to Mozilla reporting systems?

~~~
sogen
Firefox fell down at 8% of global usage according to caniuse.com

And what's the alternative, a nice open company like Google?!

~~~
brador
Exactly, no alternatives. But here's the thing, I think people will pay for a
good browser.

~~~
moron4hire
No, they won't, because people refuse to pay for software in general these
days.

