microsoft-yahoo merger

Icahn set to release his final Yahoo slate

In the coming days, Yahoo investors should expect to see shareholder activist Carl Icahn filing the final version of his proxy, indicating to what degree he seeks to control Yahoo's board and keep the door open to Microsoft.

Icahn, who initially launched his proxy fight to push a merger between Yahoo and Microsoft and subsequently saw talks on even a partial search buyout deal fall through, is expected to print and disseminate his definitive proxy materials within the next two weeks, say people familiar with the proxy process.

That document will indicate whether he plans to try to oust … Read more

Icahn's blog goes live

Updated 1:36 PM PDT, to include a statement from Icahn.

What's on Carl Icahn's mind? He's offered a peek Thursday, with the launch of his long-dormant blog.

The Icahn Report went live with blog postings ranging from "Corporate Democracy is a Myth" to "Absurdity of Corporate Board Elections" to "About CEOs - Anti-Darwinian Metaphor - Survival of the Unfittest," to name a few. The site's debut comes more than five months after the domain name was created.

Icahn outlined his reasons for creating the blog, with this statement:

I … Read more

RiskMetrics in conundrum on Yahoo director

Update at 8:20 p.m. PDT, with Glass Lewis recommendation on Wilson in the CSX proxy fight

Influential institutional investor advisory service RiskMetrics Group abstained Tuesday from issuing a recommendation on Yahoo director Gary Wilson, in his "other" proxy fight.

Wilson, who is facing a proxy fight against investor activist Carl Icahn in his role as a Yahoo director, is also running as one of five members on a dissident slate against the incumbent 12-member board of railroad company CSX.

CSX is holding its annual shareholders meeting next week on June 25. Yahoo, meanwhile, is scheduled to … Read more

Microsoft looks to nab Yahoo workers

Having failed to buy all of Yahoo, or even its search business, Microsoft is now looking to take an even more piecemeal approach--hire its workers.

The company took out an ad in the San Jose Mercury News touting the fact that it has search jobs available in Silicon Valley.

"There are now very few companies that remain truly committed to defining the future of search and online advertising," the ad reads. "Microsoft is one of them."

Microsoft's not-so-subtle dig at Yahoo is particularly well-timed amid rumors that Yahoo is in a hiring freeze, or at … Read more

Longtime Microsoft board member Jon Shirley to step down

Microsoft announced Tuesday that its longtime board member and former executive Jon Shirley has decided not to run for re-election at the company's annual shareholders meeting.

Shirley, who served as Microsoft's president and chief operating officer for seven years through 1990, is retiring from the board after 25 years. He will remain on the board until the shareholders meeting in November.

"Having turned 70 years old this year, I'm at a point in my life where I want to reduce my professional commitments and allow more time pursuing some of my personal interests," Shirley said … Read more

Court nixes expedited trial on Yahoo severance plans

A Delaware Chancery Court on Monday denied a fast-track schedule to hold a trial on whether to invalidate Yahoo's controversial employee severance plans, prior to the company's annual shareholders meeting on August 1, according to a Reuters report.

Two Detroit pension funds, which had filed a shareholders lawsuit against Yahoo over its handling of the unsolicited buyout bid by Microsoft and subsequent withdrawal, had been seeking to invalidate Yahoo's employees severance plans. In the lawsuit, the shareholders allege the severance plans potentially make any change of control in ownership or board composition a costly venture.

The shareholders … Read more

Yahoo to unseal opposition court papers in shareholder lawsuit case

Update 10:30 a.m. PDT: Yahoo plans to unseal its court filing Monday.

Yahoo investors who are hoping to get a glimpse into the company's legal brief filed Monday to oppose holding a trial to remove its controversial employee severance plan will have to wait for an hour or so, according to a source familiar with the filing.

Yahoo's brief seeks to oppose a motion made in a shareholder lawsuit, which asks the court to hold a trial to invalidate the company's employees severance plans and to hold the trial before Yahoo's annual shareholders' meeting … Read more

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