Icahn launches Yahoo! proxy fight
Signaling that he wants to invest up to $2.5 billion, activist investor Carl Icahn on Thursday launched a proxy contest at Yahoo! Inc., nominating 10 directors in the hopes of negotiating a successful merger with Microsoft Corp.
In a letter addressed to Yahoo! chairman Roy Bostock, Icahn said: "It is clear to me that the board of directors of Yahoo has acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders and Microsoft."
He called the $33 per share offer price a "superior alternative" to the company's standalone prospects and pointed out that it represented a 72% premium over Yahoo's closing price of $19.18 ahead of the offer. Microsoft originally put forth a $31 per share offer and withdrew its $47.5 billion bid May 3 after it was repeatedly rebuffed.
Icahn's slate includes: himself; Harvard Law professor Lucian Bebchuk; Frank J. Biondi Jr., the one-time CEO of Viacom and Universal Studios; John H. Chapple, president of Hawkeye Investments LLC; Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban; Adam Dell, an Impact Venture Partners managing general partner; Keith A. Meister, the principle executive officer and vice chairman of Icahn Enterprises; Edward H. Meyer, chairman, chief executive and chief investment officer of investment management firm Ocean Road Advisors Inc., Brian S. Posner, former chief executive and co-chief investment officer of ClearBridge Advisors LLC, and Robert K. Shaye, co-chairman and co-CEO of New Line Cinema. -- Carolyn Murphy
Poll
The DOW will pass 10,000 for good in....
Q1 2009
4%
Q2 2009
3%
Q3 2009
27%
Q4 2009
19%
Q1 2010
15%
Q2 2010
9%
Q3 2010
3%
Q4 2010
1%
Some time in 2011
14%
2012+
4%
Total votes: 93
Man
This is like watching a movie....
Not quite understanding
So he owns 59 million shares, and at the price of $27.75 (closing price 5/15) that's a little over 1.6 billion dollars worth of YHOO stock. Why does he want the Microsoft takeover of Yahoo so bad? Is it because of the premium price they would pay for yahoo, and thus making him a quick buck? Or is there an alternative motive.
Quick question, assuming that Icahn is looking to make a quick buck, his intentions of launching a Yahoo proxy fight has sent Yahoo stock higher. Would it be possible for him to start unloading his 59 million shares block by block, or is that illegal. I'm saying this because if that were the case, I guess his reputation won him more money as the stock price rose with hopes of a premium being paid on YHOO shares... is this transaction even legal