Yahoo Lashes Back at Carl Icahn's Proxy Fight Threat
Date : 16 May 2008 Category : Technology
NewsFactor NetworkYang took his case directly to employees in an e-mail late Thursday, boasting about the company's "solid results" in the first quarter. "Yahoo is a great company with a truly unique set of highly valuable assets that is growing, profitable and executing well on its strategic plan to enhance our leadership position in online advertising," Yang said in the e-mail, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Our solid results for the first quarter of 2008 are a testament to this."
'Irrational' Actions
Icahn made it clear that the purpose of the proxy fight is to restart an acquisition deal with Microsoft. In his letter to the board, Icahn said, "The board of directors of Yahoo has acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders and Microsoft; I sincerely hope you heed the wishes of your shareholders and move expeditiously to negotiate a merger with Microsoft, thereby making a proxy fight unnecessary."
Icahn proposed a slate of directors that includes Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and former Viacom CEO Frank Biondi.
Yahoo also released a formal response to Icahn from Chairman Roy Bostock. Icahn, Bostock's letter said, suffers from a "significant misunderstanding" of how hard Yahoo worked on the Microsoft proposal. Yang and the current board "remain the best and most qualified group to maximize value for all Yahoo stockholders," Bostock said.
Commitment to 'Shareholder Value'
"From the beginning of the process with Microsoft, Yahoo's independent directors focused on one central goal: how best...