Yahoo investors give board a thumbs up
Yahoo’s investors threw their weight behind the internet company’s board on Friday, with 85% of votes supporting CEO Jerry Yang after he fought off a proxy fight with Carl Icahn.
By Bloomberg |
CALIFORNIA/NEW YORK: Yahoo���s investors threw their weight behind the internet company���s board on Friday, with 85% of votes supporting chief executive officer Jerry Yang after he fought off a proxy fight with Carl Icahn. Each director received at least 77% of the votes cast, Yahoo said after its annual meeting. Icahn was appointed to the board after the vote.
The result gives Yang a boost after he drew criticism for passing up a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft. Yang, who co-founded the company in 1995 and took over as CEO last year, said on Friday that Yahoo���s internet advertising strategy is on the verge of paying off. ���Yahoo still has pressure to boost its stock,��� said Colin Gillis, an analyst at Canaccord Adams in New York. While Icahn didn���t get the power on the board that he originally sought, his presence ���certainly breaks the status quo���.
Chairman Roy Bostock received about 80% of the votes, Yahoo said. Director Arthur Kern received the lowest number, with 78%. About 153 million shares were withheld for Yang���s re-election, Yahoo said. The board will expand to 11 members from nine to make room for two of Icahn���s nominees, part of an agreement announced last month to placate the investor. The directors will be named by August 15, Yahoo said.
The result gives Yang a boost after he drew criticism for passing up a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft. Yang, who co-founded the company in 1995 and took over as CEO last year, said on Friday that Yahoo���s internet advertising strategy is on the verge of paying off. ���Yahoo still has pressure to boost its stock,��� said Colin Gillis, an analyst at Canaccord Adams in New York. While Icahn didn���t get the power on the board that he originally sought, his presence ���certainly breaks the status quo���.
Chairman Roy Bostock received about 80% of the votes, Yahoo said. Director Arthur Kern received the lowest number, with 78%. About 153 million shares were withheld for Yang���s re-election, Yahoo said. The board will expand to 11 members from nine to make room for two of Icahn���s nominees, part of an agreement announced last month to placate the investor. The directors will be named by August 15, Yahoo said.
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Yahoo fell 9 cents to $19.80 on Friday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Microsoft���s offer sent Yahoo as high as $29.98 in February, and the software maker at one point bid $33 a share. ���We are still in the middle of a massive transformation,��� said Yang, 39. ���The internet is still the only industry, really, that���s growing in advertising revenue.���
Chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen said Yahoo is seeing sales growth even amid the economic slowdown. Yahoo���s balance sheet is ���extremely healthy��� and the company may buy back shares and make acquisitions in years to come, he said. Bostock said on Friday Microsoft never made its $33 a share offer in writing, calling it an ���offhand comment��� that was never communicated explicitly to the board.
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