Comments on: Icahn to Yahoo: Nix the poison pill, now

In a letter to board Chairman Roy Bostock, the investor activist roars about Yahoo's "insulting" and "deceitful" actions regarding its severance plan.

[sjsobol]

Wow.

I mean, WOW.

Is Yang really that unbelievably stupid?

[kojacked]

PWNED!

Nicely put Mr. Icahn.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Yeowch. This guy can write. He's both insulting and diplomatic about it. I think I want this guy on Yahoo's board instead. He seems far more in touch with reality.

[Renegade Knight]

No you don't. If he could actually run a company he would not specialze in ripping them apart. Again I need to point out that if MS needs Yahoo, then Yahoo doesn't need MS. If Yahoo isn't viable then what's the point of MS paying for it? Your man is in it for the quick profit. Not the long run interests of the stockholders or customers.

[Jamie_Foster]

Icahn has got Yang and Filo by the short and curlies. There are now 2 issues.
1. Does Microsoft buy all of Yahoo or Does Microsoft buy just the Yahoo Search business.
2. Money, many Yahoo Shareholders were willing to take $33.
I believe that it would be a nightmare to combine Windows Live/MSN with all of Yahoo. But these two companies have to get together and work together. They are both being caned by Google.
The other issue is that MSN and Yahoo both lack really strong leaders. They could use a merger as an opportunity to bring in fresh blood and a world class management team. .
They also need to attract top engineers and sort out their branding.

[gary85739]

Icahn has messed up many of his take overs...if this guy is coming after your biz, RUN! he's just a speculator and cares nothing for the people that work at those biz that he trashes,sells the assets and smugly sells it later as a tax write off!

[whois101]

Like always, big money, lawyers, and similar short-term thinkers are ready to kill Yahoo for a second time. A big reason for the position Yahoo is in right now is that Yang was no longer in charge for a while. This killed innovation, something necessary in this market to make progress. Vista-fying Yahoo won't help anybody, not the users, and therefore not the company nor the shareholders.

[throughtheglass]

Whaaa! Whaaa! Why won't this scumbag just die already? I love to see the ultra rich crying because someone had the cojones to shove a big f*^# you wrench in thier greedy gears. Hey Carl, don't like it? then go away. Simple. I guess you felt you were going to walk in an everyone was going to be so in awe of your presense that they were just going to roll over and give up? So what are you going to do if they stick to their guns (which they will) Have fun trying to sell this pig to another company with that kind of poison pill in place. So in 2 years after your slate of dummies takes over and they are able to finally break the company up, do you really think there will be any value left? Meanwhile Microsoft is not going to offer you anything close to 33 bucks a share. Why should they? Whats their motivation? *********.

[rocketjam--2008]

Icahn is only concerned with how much money he can make from Yahoo stock. He doesn't care whatsoever about the future of the company once it is sold to MS. He is not concerned with workers and jobs. He is concerned with stock deals.

[wangbang]

Icahn is a greedy scumbag of the worst kind. All he does is take over companies and ruin them to his benefit. Look at what he did to TWA.

[J. Blow]

Yes you dummy. He's a financial speculator and doesn't care about the technology or the employees. Don't like it? Don't go PUBLIC. Once you sell shares publicly, in a large way, you are at the whims of the market.

Again, don't like it? Don't go public.

[Melekai]

Yang engineered an ingenious defense creating huge incentives for a massive employee walkout in the aftermath of a change in control. The plan gives each of Yahoo's 14,000 full-time employees the right to quit his or her job and pocket generous termination benefits at any time during the two years following a takeover, by claiming a "substantive adverse alteration" in job duties or responsibilities.
Brilliant!

[limefan913]

Yes, I'm inclined to agree. I read that and wanted to give the man a high five. I like Yahoo as a company. Sure, they've made some mess ups, but with Yang at the helm again they're on the way back up. Give the man a chance to fix things. The last thing that company needs is Icahn messing things up for good.

[rocketjam--2008]

j blow-- what's up w/the "you dummy" address? just because you disagree w/someone's take doesn't mean they're a "dummy". That's why online commenting rarely generates useful dialog, instead usually degenerating into a lot of useless noise, and people shouting past each other.

and regardless of whether going public makes it legal for people like icahn to extract maximum profit from a company's stock without regard to the company's future, it doesn't make it "right".

[J. Blow]

What's up? I'll tell you what's up, look at your own comment. "whether going public makes it legal for people like icahn to extract maximum profit from a company's stock without regard to the company's future" - are you joking? Do you have any idea how the economy works? What are you even suggesting? That somehow the law would protect companys that had a "good name"? Or protect companys that the founder was still involved in?

Here's the reality: Funds own most of Yahoo. Those funds are owned by pension funds, other companys, individual investors, mutual funds, etc and the board not only has moral obligation, but a legal objigation to provide maximum valuation for those investors. So when a CEO says that "shareholders" supported him he's delusional and financially and morally corupt. It is wrong, not only to the big investors, but even more importantly to the little investors.

Now you don't like it when a guy like Icahn comes in and cleans up a mess but guess what? It is going to free up a lot of capital and that capital is going to be used on companys that have a future. That's why I care.

[benjaminstraight]

Wow. What a to the point letter.