Proxy takeover 'not in Yahoo!'s best interests'

Category: Internet Trends

May 16th 08, 11:02

The proxy fight being mounted by billionaire investor Carl Icahn is bad news for Yahoo!, according to the company's chairman.

Roy Bostock said that the attempt, which follows Yahoo!'s refusal of a $47.5 billion (£24.4 billion) takeover offer from Microsoft, does not take into account the company's reasons for saying no to the offer, reports Bloomberg.

Mr Icahn, who has been involved in proxy takeover attempts in the past, wrote a letter to Yahoo! in which he claimed that the search pioneer had behaved "irrationally" and lost the faith of its shareholders.

But Mr Bostock wrote a letter to Mr Icahn that stated: "We do not believe it is in the best interests of Yahoo stockholders to allow you and your hand-picked nominees to take control."

Mr Icahn has prepared a slate of ten dissident board members to replace Yahoo!'s current directors, after purchasing 59 million shares in the company.

Espen Eckbo, founding director of the Centre for Corporate Governance at Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, has told the Associated Press that his attempt's chances of success may be better than average due to the level of discontent among Yahoo! investors.

This news story was brought to you by Bluhalo, a leading UK digital agency.

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