Yahoo puts final coda on the Icahn battle

It wasn't the world's worst-kept secret but it wins honorable mention.

As expected, Yahoo announced Thursday afternoon that it had appointed Frank J. Biondi Jr. and John H. Chapple to its board of directors.

This seemingly puts a final coda on the months-long Carl Icahn soap opera, which featured the billionaire investor's sundry attempts to take control -- or force a sale -- of the company. In the end, Icahn settled for a board seat for himself as well as Yahoo expanding the size of the board to accommodate two more directors. Yahoo agreed to select the candidates from a pool that included Icahn's former slate of dissident directors.

In a statement, CEO Jerry Yang had this to say:

I look forward to working together with Frank, John, and the rest of our board to continue the progress we've made on our strategy to be the starting point for the most Internet users, a must buy for the most advertisers, and to develop the world's most open platforms.

Biondi is a senior managing director of investment adviser WaterView Advisors, former chairman and chief executive of Universal Studios, and former head of Viacom. Chapple is president of Hawkeye Investments in Redmond, Wash., and former CEO of Nextel Partners.