Yahoo's Yang issues letter to the company troops
As the proxy fight heats up, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang issued a letter to employees to address the mechanics of a proxy contest and what to expect.
Yang's letter comes as Yahoo and billionaire investor Carl Icahn have exchanged several rounds of proxy fight letters over the past few days. The fevered pitch between the two parties is expected to further accelerate in the coming weeks leading up Yahoo's August 1 annual shareholders' meeting.
Icahn is seeking to unseat Yahoo's board of directors with his own dissident slate, while Yahoo is working to persuade investors to re-elect the current board. Here is Yang on what constitutes a proxy fight and what employees should expect:
To: Yahoo global staff
From: jerry
Subject: proxy contest update
yahoos,over the last few weeks, i'm sure you've read a lot about a potential proxy contest leading up to our august 1, 2008 annual meeting of stockholders. the proxy contest has now begun.
so what is a proxy contest?
a proxy contest happens when one or more stockholders proposes nominees for the board of directors other than the nominees proposed by the company. and as you know, carl icahn has also announced his intention to nominate an alternate slate of directors for election to our board.
in a proxy contest, it is typical for a variety of positive and negative statements to be made about a company's board and management. we expect these kinds of statements about yahoo! to intensify in the weeks ahead. we intend to respond to statements that we believe are unfair or misleading, and we did so with the press releases we issued this week.
what should you expect in the coming weeks?
we have already filed our proxy statement with the SEC, which includes the board's nominees for election as directors and the other matters to be voted on at the annual meeting. next, we'll mail our proxy statement to all stockholders as soon as it's cleared by the SEC . in our proxy statement, our board unanimously recommends that all stockholders vote for all of yahoo!'s board of director nominees.
we believe the yahoo! board has the independence, knowledge and commitment to navigate the company through the rapidly changing internet environment and to deliver value for yahoo! and its stockholders. as we've said repeatedly, the entire yahoo! board is fully committed to doing what is in our stockholders' best interests. as yahoos, it's more important than ever that we put aside the rhetoric and continue to focus on strategic objectives and our efforts to maximize stockholder value. i want to thank all of you for your continued hard work and dedication through this distracting time. you are our most valued asset.
please remember that there are certain requirements that apply to communications during a proxy contest, but we'll do our best to keep you as informed as possible.
jerry
Dawn Kawamoto covers enterprise security and financial news relating to technology for CNET News. E-mail Dawn. 
Jennifer Guevin
Associate Editor
CNET News.com
This alone should say "Hi, I'm Jerry, I used to run a big company before the real heavy hitters came in and took over".
So it left it to Google to do it, and now he faces being assimilated by the evil borg.
:)
I'm going to use real English spelling, unlike you did in your letter. I guess I'm just not one of the 'kool kids' like you, or whatever you're trying to prove.
As a native of St. Louis, I know what Carl Icahn did to TWA. This guy is a snake, weasel and a squirrel all rolled into one. He makes Ballmer look like Tinkerbell.
You are so unprepared and out of your league for what is about to transpire to Yahoo! that its not even funny. This tough, New York, east coast no-BS shark is about to take your west coast, granola-eating, yoga-meditating, cumbaya-singing, can't-we-all-just-get-along-and-respect-each-other, butt for a lesson that can only be taught behind the woodshed.
Your problem, Mr. Yahoo!, is that you still believe this is your company. It's not - its owned by the shareholders. Remember 12 April 1996 when you IPO'd? You should, because that's when you got a big payday... and you sold out your company to the market. That's ok. It's what happens naturally - you worked hard and should've taken your money. But don't expect to be able to play the game both ways.
Sorry, but in Mr. Icahn's world, $$$ talks and everything else walks...
Have fun!
For those who are ignorant in linguistic study or derivative thereof are bound by the structure in which you learn the language. I think Yang effective use of lowercase and excellent grammar is the basis for a better conveyance of a new meaning to the culture he is taking the company.
1) By lowering the standard of the writing to more clear, concise approach, everyone will understand.
2) By using grammar that pick can pick up, will enable people to emphasize and feel good about their english.
Those who corrected him "feel" elite by pointing out and ridicule his mistake. That's the objective of the writing, to incite the elitist.
"By lowering the standard of the writing..."
Without capitalization, it was NOT a more clear, concise approach. Just appeared more simplistic. What is acceptable for a discussion forum is not acceptable in a legit corporate environment.
jerrys memo:
"until everyone is not fully literate it will be company policy to communicate with all of you by dumbing down our language as much as possible for you simpletons to understand it! we will not use punctuations to distract you from the hard time you are already having to comprehend (understand) what we are trying to convey (say). please do not forget to make an advance booking with the company librarian for lending out the company dictionary (a book full of meaning for all the incomprehensible (non-understandable) language we use here) as it is always in high demand due to the nature of our conduct in all things we do or...don't do...to stand out."
On a serious note:
1. Would Y! hire someone who sent their cover letter/resume in that format? (Y! HR mgr to jerry: "yaaaaahooo!! jerry look we found someone just like you. its like s/he is from a parallel universe". jerrys reply to HR mgr.."hire them. rest of the skills s/he has acquired from studying in the best schools of this planet can be (un) learnt on the job here")
2. Where will we set the limit on discouraging people to follow cultural taboos? What will come next? Clothing optional at workplace? Allowing guns at workplace...you can target practice in the cafeteria or on the poor ducks in the company pond or even better...just about anywhere you like and anytime you feel like letting off some steam (board meetings after the MS failed takeover bid may be a good starting place, probably). Or allowing you to smoke/drink in your cubicles or anywhere you wish? Allowing employees to pee and poo wherever they feel like depending on their mood and the surrounding scenery? I know I am highly exaggerating but where do we set the limits to stand out from the crowd?
A company and it's culture can still stand out by following some generally accepted standard practices (for a good larger reason/benefit) when it comes to things like these.
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- by benjaminstraight July 29, 2008 3:57 PM PDT
- Our 3rd daily installment of Yahoo drama.
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