Yahoo cuts deal with investor Icahn
Monday, July 21, 2008 1:32 PM
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Web portal Yahoo reached an agreement with activist investor Carl Icahn, who had been pushing to replace the companyâs entire board following its rejection of a takeover bid by Microsoft.
Under the deal, Icahn will get three Yahoo board seats, including one for himself, expanding the companyâs board to 11 members, Yahoo said in a press release. Eight of Yahooâs current directors will stand for re-election, while one of them, Robert Kotick, will not seek another term.
The agreement came shortly before Yahooâs 2008 annual meeting on Aug. 1. Icahn agreed to withdraw his slate of director nominees and to vote his 68.8 million shares (almost 5 percent of Yahooâs stock) in favor of the boardâs nominees.
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In February, Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), of Sunnyvale, Calif., turned down Redmond-based Microsoftâs (NASDAQ: MSFT) acquisition bid, which was initially valued at $44.6 billion. Icahn led a shareholder revolt and put forward a new slate of directors for Yahoo, and urged the ouster of CEO Jerry Yang.
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