Anti climax
Just when everyone was looking forward to a bit of excitement at the culmination of the epic Microsoft/Yahoo! saga, with the 1st August shareholders meeting set to determine whether the incumbent board gets to stay or is replaced with Carl Icahn’s slate, they’ve gone and done a deal.
Now, eight of the current board will stand for re-election on the 1st and Robert Kotick will stand down. He will be replaced by, you guessed it, Carl Icahn. Furthermore the board will be expanded to 11 members, with the two new ones being chosen by the board from Icahn’s proxy fight slate, plus Jonathan Miller, currently a partner in Velocity Interactive Group and former chairman and CEO of AOL.
Icahn, who is a five percent shareholder in Yahoo!, has agreed to withdraw his full slate of board nominees and vote for the incumbents at the shareholders meeting.
"We are gratified to have reached this agreement, which serves the best interests of all Yahoo! stockholders," said Yahoo! chairman Roy Bostock, who would have lost his job if the proxy fight had gone against him on 1st August.
Icahn was keen to keep all his options open, saying: "While I continue to believe that the sale of the whole Company or the sale of its Search business in the right transaction must be given full consideration, I share the view that Yahoo!'s valuable collection of assets positions it well to continue expanding its online leadership and enhancing returns to stockholders."
Other than that, there was no mention made of Microsoft.
Press release: Yahoo! Announces Settlement with Carl Icahn
