Terence Steven Semel (born February 24, 1943) is an American corporate executive who was the chairman and CEO of Yahoo! Incorporated from 2001 to 2007. Previously, he spent 24 years at Warner Bros., where he served as chairman and co-chief executive officer. Early life Semel was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Mildred (née Wenig) and Ben Semel. His father was a women's coat designer and his mother was a bus company executive. He was raised in Bay Terrace, a community in Bayside, Queens. He was the middle child, and has two sisters. At the age of 23, he graduated from Long Island University in Brooklyn with a B.S. degree in accounting. Career Semel began working at Warner Bros. in 1965 as a trainee. From 1970 to 1972, Semel worked for CBS corporation's theatrical film production company, Cinema Center Films, as domestic sales manager. CBS closed Cinema Center Films in 1972 and Semel moved to the Walt Disney Company, where he was vice president in charge of theatrical distribution until 1975. In 1975, Semel returned to Warner Bros. Distribution as president, then moved into studio operations as an executive vice president in 1979. Frank Wells announced he was taking a less active role the company in 1981, Semel became president and chief operating officer of Warner Bros. on January 1, 1982. In 1994, Warner Bros. Chairman and Chief Executive Robert A. Daly announced that Semel would become his co-chairman and CEO. The following year, the two men also became co-chairmen and co-chief executives of Warner Music following the firing of Michael J. Fuchs. Both Daly and Semel resigned from Warner Bros. in July 1999. Yahoo compensation In April 2001, Semel was granted stock options with an SEC Fair Value of over $110 million as a bonus to join Yahoo. During June 2006, his annual salary was reduced to one dollar. Yahoo!-China cooperation controversy As CEO, Semel approved Yahoo!'s cooperation with Chinese officials to release previously confidential Yahoo! information to the Chinese government. This action by Yahoo! was not well received and he showed signs of regret as to how that information was being used. For example, in a widely publicized exchange at The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital conference, he was asked if Yahoo! would have cooperated with Nazi Germany. In response, Semel, who is Jewish, stated, "I don't know how I would