Icahn 'to lead proxy fight for Yahoo!'

15th May 2008

A proxy struggle for Yahoo! could be led by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, new reports suggest.

The deadline for nominating a dissident board is today (May 15th) and Mr Icahn, who has a history of involvement in proxy battles, has a slate of at least ten alternative directors to present to the company.

Investors in both Yahoo! and Microsoft were unhappy about the way takeover talks progressed, the Guardian reported last week.

Discussions culminated in Microsoft raising its offer to $47.5 billion (£24.4 billion), only to walk away when Yahoo! wanted more.

"I think there is a better than normal change of (Icahn) winning because it's such a clear-cut case of what went wrong here," Espen Eckbo, founding director of the Centre for Corporate Governance at Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, told the Associated Press

Former chief executive of Viacom, Frank Biondi, is thought to be one of the names on Mr Icahn's list.