Carl Icahn gets backdoor entry into Yahoo

Microsoft finally seems to have won the proxy with activist Carl Icahn whose firm now owns 4.5% of the company to have stayed away from the shareholders meeting, thus averting the board replacement had it come to vote.

Carl Icahn absence paved the way for the internet search engine provider's chairman, Roy Bostock who rejected claims that the board mishandled the bid process, saying it had "called the shots" throughout
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/money/2008/08/02/cnyahoo102.xml
There was never a conversation in more than 30 [board] meetings that did not involve shareholder value," he protested at the firm's annual meeting at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California.
Mr Bostock said the original $31-a-share bid tabled on February 1 was the only formal offer ever received from Microsoft, pointing out that the later $33 "offer" was simply a suggestion that there might be a few more dollars on the table.

He also stressed that Yahoo!'s board had remained open to a deal with the software giant, and that as it tried to engage with Microsoft, so Microsoft pulled away.
The comments were aimed at countering a great deal of criticism over the board's role in the last six months, not least from Mr Icahn.
The activist investor, who owns a 4.98pc stake in Yahoo!, had attempted to replace the company's entire board as a result of its apparent inactivity with Microsoft.
But Mr Icahn last week agreed a pact to drop such a proxy battle in exchange for he and an associate joining the board later this month, along with a third new non-executive director.
As a result, Mr Icahn stayed away from the meeting, and all eight returning directors, including Mr Yang, looked set to be re-elected, although final results had yet to be released at the time of writing.


However dissident shareholder Eric Jackson, who was involved in the demise of former chief executive Terry Semel last year, accused the board of "overplaying its hand" with Microsoft and asked Mr Bostock why he remained on the board when 34pc of shareholders who voted at the 2007 annual meeting chose not to vote for his re-election.

The chances that talks with Microsoft would revive appear remote but Microsoft will always have Mr Icahn to side them whenever such an opportunity arises with Mr Icahn's people on the board.
So game on for Microsoft, Yahoo and Google and yes the shareholder