Yahoo urges rejection of proxy slate

Yahoo Inc. on Friday asked shareholders to reject a slate of directors that billionaire investor Carl Icahn is proposing.

Sunnyvale-based Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO), in a preliminary proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said "We do not believe that election of the Icahn Entities' nominees to our Board of Directors is in the best interests of our stockholders."

The company also asked shareholders to reject two other contenders who were unnamed and said they plan to nominate themselves to the board, along with a slate proposed by another unnamed shareholder.

Content Continues Below

In May Icahn confirmed he's gearing up for a proxy fight and said the board "acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders" when it spurned Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ:MSFT) $33 a share purchase offer.

Icahn's slate includes himself, Adam Dell, brother of Dell Inc. Chief Executive Michael Dell, and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.