It's a done deal: Icahn on Yahoo board
Now the fireworks and fractiousness can officially move inside Yahoo: activist investor Carl Icahn is part of the Internet company's board.
Icahn had tried to take over the entire board in July, but settled for a seat of his own and for two of his allies. In a regulatory filing Wednesday, Yahoo said Icahn is officially on the board, replacing Robert Kotick as planned.
Carl Icahn is Yahoo's newest board member.
One of Icahn's first roles on the board will be to help pick the two allies who will join him. The new appointments are set to be announced by August 15, increasing Yahoo's board from nine to eleven members.
Icahn owns about 5 percent of Yahoo's shares.
Yahoo's board is no place for a someone in search of a sinecure. The board met thirty times in the six months between Microsoft's announcement of its desire to acquire Yahoo and Friday's shareholder meeting.
And there's plenty of pressure still to come. After that meeting, the board might have been breathing a sigh of relief when vote results showed shareholder dissatisfaction had lessened from 2007. But a recount of the Yahoo vote actually showed strong dissatisfaction: 39.6 percent withheld votes to re-elect Chairman Roy Bostock and 33.7 percent withheld votes for Chief Executive Jerry Yang.
Those numbers could help bring some weight to whatever reforms Icahn has to suggest. The interpersonal dynamics of the board are sure to change, but it's not yet clear how. For the time being, though, both Icahn and Yahoo are presenting an image of collegiality and civility.
Despite Icahn's earlier request that Yang step down, Yang said he welcomes Icahn's "fresh perspective,", and at the board meeting, Bostock said the board looks forward to Icahn's arrival. "Carl is a good guy, despite some of the things written about him. He'll be a very productive member," Bostock said.
Icahn, who skipped the shareholder meeting, last week called Yang and Bostock "gentlemen" and said he hoped working together "will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank. 
Icahn can't get anything done, he will be sent to the corner to play while the adults work on important matters.
MS blew it with Yahoo. It would have been worse for MS had Ballmer succeeded in his ill thought out plans to compete in the future he can't grasp buy buying a few buildings and some Linux code.
He is a corporate raider that destroys for personal gain and has no clue about tech matters. He makes Ballmer look like a genius.
Icahn has no real power and with the majority of the board against him won't be able to pull any sleazy tricks. Next year he will likely be pushed out and Yahoo will continue.
If you think that it is a good idea for MS to go into debt for a company it doesn't understand, whose employees will bail, leaving MS with empty building and tons of Linux code, then we can only presume one of two things: You are ballmer, you are just carrying MS's water for a small paycheck.
- by benjaminstraight August 7, 2008 2:38 PM PDT
- Finally
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