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Truce Won't Silence Yahoo Critics

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The Associated Press

Published: August 1, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo's recent truce that will put investor Carl Icahn on the board of directors didn't pacify many shareholders who remain on the warpath heading into the company's annual meeting today.

The slings and arrows are expected to include a significant number of votes opposing the re-election of the company's current board and a fusillade of criticism.

Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang, in particular, will probably get an earful after spurning a $47.5 billion takeover bid from Microsoft.

Since Microsoft withdrew that offer, Yahoo's stock price has plunged 30 percent to leave the company's market value nearly $20 billion below what shareholders would have been paid if Yang and the rest of the board had accepted the bid.

"The Microsoft negotiations were just the latest example of the negligence by this board," said Eric Jackson, a Yahoo shareholder who plans to confront Yang during today's meeting.

Jackson, who represents a group of stockholders with about 3.2 million shares, made an impression at Yahoo's meeting last year when he ripped the performance of then-CEO Terry Semel. Just six days after that skewering, Semel stepped down as CEO and surrendered the reins to Yang, Yahoo's co-founder.

"I haven't spoken to anyone who thinks, 'Hey, this is the right team to lead Yahoo,'" said Mark Nelson, a partner at Mithras Capital, which owns 1.7 million Yahoo shares.

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