icahn

Activist shareholder calls for Icahn-Yahoo combo slate

Amid much debate over Yahoo's future, activist shareholder Eric Jackson offered his own suggested slate of directors Monday, which includes four from fellow activist Carl Icahn's slate and five from Yahoo's.

Jackson, who outlined his "Third Option for Yahoo" in a column in TheStreet.com, suggested the combo slate for several reasons.

Investors may be reluctant to throw out all of Yahoo's nine-member board, given that Microsoft has not publicly stated any interest in making another bid for the search pioneer. That means that whoever is elected to Yahoo's board would likely have … Read more

Icahn notes Yahoo-Google deal maybe worthwhile

Update: June 16 at 7:15 a.m., with comments from a source on whether a hostile bid for a portion of a company's assets, not the whole company, is doable.

If Microsoft was holding out any hope of enlisting Yahoo investor activist Carl Icahn to its side of the table with a partial acquisition of the search pioneer's business, Icahn apparently isn't budging.

Icahn, as quoted in a Reuters report Sunday, said he believed Yahoo's advertising partnership with Google "might have some merit."

Icahn's comments follow Yahoo's statement Thursday that talks with Microsoft have come to an end, after it determined selling its search business to the software giant was not in its best long-term interests … Read more

The battle for Yahoo's soul

Yahoo CEO and founder Jerry Yang "bleeds purple." Microsoft wanted to take control of his purple blood in its quest to compete with Google. Carl Icahn may want a plain old bloodletting. The corporate raider could send Yang packing or confine him to the boardroom if he continues with his effort to get a dissident slate elected to Yahoo's board of directors at an upcoming shareholder meeting.

Thursday, Yang took a stand, announcing talks with Microsoft about any kind of transaction have concluded and inking a non-exclusive search deal with Google. If Icahn's was intent on … Read more

Analysts don't rule out a Microsoft-Yahoo deal just yet

Updated June 13 at 8:35 a.m. PDT with analyst comments on the Google-Yahoo search ad deal.

Shares of Yahoo continued to get hammered in early-morning market trading on Friday, in a sign that its Google search ad announcement wasn't enough to boomerang its share price northward following Microsoft's exit from buyout talks.

Yahoo was down 6.46 percent to $22 a share in early morning trading. On Thursday, Yahoo ended the day at $23.52 per share, down more than 10 percent.

But the market reaction that Microsoft has left the building and thrown away the … Read more

Icahn to drop Yahoo proxy fight, given Microsoft's pullout?

Yahoo and Microsoft talks are going away, but don't expect billionaire investor Carl Icahn to do likewise, said one source familiar with the investor activist.

Icahn, who last month launched a proxy fight to unseat Yahoo's board and push the two companies to merge, is likely to forge ahead with his active proxy fight campaign, the source said. Icahn is hoping to woo Yahoo investors to elect his dissident slate at Yahoo's annual shareholders meeting on August 1.

"I can't see Carl walking away. Some guys in tech think they're tough. They don't … Read more

Daily Debrief: Checking in on the health and soul of Yahoo

In Thursday's edition of the Daily Debrief, I chat with CNET News.com Editor in Chief Dan Farber about the state of Yahoo. Company news seems to emerge on a daily basis, but what does it all really mean? Farber, who has his finger on the pulse of the company, explains that at least personnel-wise, the search giant has been in a state of turmoil for the last year and a half.

Also, ever since February, when Microsoft came to Yahoo with intent to acquire, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company has been on the defensive. Farber argues that we … Read more

Yahoo to ask for dismissal of amended shareholder suit

Yahoo on Wednesday said it plans to ask the court to dismiss an amended shareholders lawsuit and noted it would also oppose the plaintiffs' motion to seek a speedy trial to invalidate its employee severance plans.

In its filing to Delaware Chancery Court Chancellor William Chandler, Yahoo states:

We strongly disagree with Plaintiff's statements made in support of their Motion for a Trial Date (and supplemental letter) in connection with Yahoo!'s Change in Control Employee Severance Plans. It is obvious that Plaintiffs devoted much time in preparing their submissions in support of the Motion. We intend to oppose … Read more

Yahoo shareholders push judge for speedier trial date

In a move to add more grist to the mill, an attorney representing Yahoo shareholders dished up more material to support a call for a speedy hearing date on the company's controversial employee severance plans, according to a letter sent Wednesday morning to the judge overseeing the shareholders lawsuit.

The letter points to Yahoo's proxy materials filed Tuesday, as well as a posting in Silicon Alley Insider.

Plaintiffs in the shareholders lawsuit are asking the judge to set a trial date to invalidate the severance plans, prior to Yahoo's annual shareholders meeting on August 1.

That's … Read more

Icahn issues 'personally liable' warning to Yahoo board

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has issued a warning to Yahoo's board of directors, mouthing the ever-fearful two words: "personally liable."

Icahn told Reuters on Tuesday that Yahoo directors may be held personally liable for signing off on the company's controversial employee-severance plans. That plan, as previously reported, could financially hamstring Icahn's dissident slate if it is successful in unseating Yahoo's board and taking a majority of the board seats.

"If they continue with this line, I believe they (the board) may be personally liable," Icahn told Reuters after speaking to the New … Read more