icahn

Proxy fights often leave shareholders feeling black and blue, but when it comes to the battle of Carl Icahn and Jerry Yang, it's a case of gold vs. white.

Icahn on Thursday filed his preliminary proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, outlining the backgrounds of his proposed director slate and encouraging shareholders to use his gold ballots to vote in the upcoming shareholder meeting. Yahoo sent a letter yesterday urging shareholders to vote for its proposed slate on its white ballots.

In his proxy, which was well timed to coincide with Yahoo's reorganization, Icahn outlines some … Read more

Updated at 2:35 p.m. with a source clarifying that this letter does not mean talks are off.

On Wednesday, Yahoo issued a letter to shareholders defending its pact with Google as compared to a search deal with Microsoft.

"This carefully structured agreement strikes the right strategic balance, enhancing our financial results while advancing our strategic objectives of being the 'starting point' for the most users on the Internet and offering such compelling value that advertisers will see us as the 'must buy' in online advertising," Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock and CEO Jerry Yang wrote in the … Read more

Like two teenagers trying to figure out if they like each other, Yahoo and Microsoft are back at it again, trying to determine if a relationship can work. In Wednesday's edition of the Daily Debrief, I spoke with CNET News.com's Ina Fried about this latest round of talks and who is more desperate for the partnership.

Despite the recent pairing between Yahoo and Google, signs indicate that Microsoft is after the Sunnyvale-based Yahoo for its search capabilities. That doesn't come as a huge surprise since that was the essence of the last round of talks before … Read more

Microsoft and Yahoo are like two teenagers who can't decide whether to go steady, break up, or just be friends.

They are once again speaking to each other, as News.com first reported on Monday. Several sources tell CNET News.com that the latest talks involve a deal short of an acquisition.

"I can tell you categorically that's not happening," one source familiar with the situation said of the possibility of a full-on acquisition. Earlier in the day, TechCrunch reported that Microsoft was interested in buying all of Yahoo, though at a lower price than the $… Read more

Yahoo is gearing up to hit the road with its investor presentation and it wants to set the record straight, said one source close to the situation.

The Internet company did have substantial negotiations with Microsoft over the software giant's proposal for a partial deal, before the talks broke off several weeks ago, said the source, noting that a characterization by one of the company's investors was incorrect.

"Yahoo did negotiate over the terms...They negotiated over the TAC rate, and Microsoft responded by making improvements to their proposal," said the source, in contrast with earlier … Read more

Did he, or didn't he? Apparently, he didn't.

A report out of Europe cited Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft's Platforms and Services Division, saying the software giant would be interested in bidding on a Yahoo under new management. But that isn't so, a Microsoft representative told CNET News.com.

Earlier this morning, the Silicon Alley Insider referenced a Bloomberg story that cited a Financial Times Deutschland article, regarding Johnson's alleged comments. Silicon Alley Insider, rightly so, questioned whether something got lost in the English-to-German-to-English translation.

According to a Microsoft representative, Johnson did not suggest such … Read more

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

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:

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