Yahoo, Icahn Call a Truce

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The New York Sun

SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo Inc. averted a showdown with rabble-rousing investor Carl Icahn yesterday by giving him three seats on its board of directors in a truce that still leaves the door open for a possible sale to Microsoft Corp.

The compromise spares Yahoo from more bickering with Mr. Icahn, an acerbic billionaire who had spent the past two months spearheading a rebellion to replace the Internet company’s entire board in retaliation for its rejection of Microsoft’s $47.5 billion takeover bid in May.

The duel had been scheduled to culminate in a shareholder vote at Yahoo’s August 1 annual meeting.

It now appears there will be fewer fireworks at that gathering, although some Yahoo shareholders are still expected to vent about the board’s inability to get a deal done with Microsoft after six months of wrangling.

The main order of business will be the cease-fire giving Mr. Icahn three of the 11 seats on Yahoo’s board, which will be expanded to make the deal possible.

Eight of Yahoo’s current nine directors will be retained, leaving the company’s current regime — headed by the company’s chairman, Roy Bostock, and chief executive officer, Jerry Yang — in the driver’s seat.

The CEO of video game maker Activision Blizzard Inc. and a Yahoo director for five years, Robert Kotick, will surrender his seat as part of the agreement.


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