Yahoo's Aug. 1st Annual Meeting: Yang Should Be Sweating It Out

Yahoo (YHOO) finally has set a date for its annual meeting and a showdown with Carl Icahn and his "Band of Billionaires" intent of crushing Jerry Yang.

The WSJ Reports:

Mr. Icahn said he is convinced that executives of Microsoft, which withdrew its takeover offer last month for Yahoo, no longer trust Mr. Yang and won't make a new bid -- as Mr. Icahn and many investors are hoping for -- unless Mr. Yang and the company's board are ousted.
"I'm very cynical about many of the boards and CEO's in this country, but even I am amazed at the lengths that the Jerry Yang and the board went to entrench themselves in this situation," Mr. Icahn said.

Perhaps most damaging to Yang, has been the unsealing of court documents in which his efforts to unethically undermine Microsoft's (MSFT) buyout are detailed, some of which I pointed out in February.

Portfolio.com reports:

Yahoo C.E.O. Jerry Yang mapped out a scorched-earth defense against Microsoft, essentially arranging to encourage all 14,000 Yahoo employees to quit if Microsoft succeeded in buying the company earlier this year, newly released court documents suggest.

Yahoo executives also declined to tell its employees that Microsoft was prepared to offer them $1.5 billion in retention bonuses if they would stay with the company after a merger was completed, documents say.

Yang also:

As early as January 31, the day Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer e-mailed his offer to Yang, Microsoft made clear it wanted Yahoo "employees to be okay" and had earmarked "$1.5 billion for the retention of employees" in addition to the "$5 billion for [the] deal," according to notes made that day by an unidentified Yahoo employee. But that fact was never conveyed to Yahoo's employees.
Meanwhile, Yang was engineering a plan for a "massive employee walkout" in the aftermath of a Microsoft takeover by offering all of Yahoo's 14,000 employees the right to quit his or her job and pocket 100 percent acceleration of their equity rights, if there was "substantial adverse alteration" of their jobs.

Yahoo's compensation consultant calculated that the proposal would cost $1.5 billion, or 3.2 percent of the transaction price. "That's nuts," he concluded in an e-mail.

A Yahoo vice president wrote that it is "a bizarre outcome if people who stick around make off worse financially than people who [are] laid off."

Anyone betting Icahn did not laugh out loud when he read the court documents? Talk about handing a shark a slab of raw meat!!

Not sure what Yang is thinking, but he is acting like Yahoo is his own private company, not the shareholders.

Don't worry, he is about to be made very clear on that point..

Disclosure: None

Comments

[tripleE:]

Kudos to Jerry Yang for doing what he thinks is in the BEST LONG TERM interests of shareholers. The problem with US companies is they only focus on the next quarter earnings. So few companies take the position of what is best for the shareholder over the long term. As a Yahoo stockholder I applaud Jerry's tenacity in fighting off MSFT. I believe in buy low and sell high and MSFT is buying at the lowest possible point. Yahoo Asia assets/investments will continue to increase in value. It is shocking to me that advertisers still buy outdoor, radio and TV advertising with limited targetting a horrible measurement. Eventually Madison Ave will wake up to the benefits of online display advertising and Yahoo is best positioned. MSFT is not the company to lead in the online media space, they are a software company. Hopefully people will wake up and smell the coffee... Yahoo remaining independent just makes the most financial sense... if you think the peanut butter is thin now, just wait until MSFT gets involved.

2008 Jun 05 06:30 AM

[usbworks:]

Todd, when the WJJ ot Portfolio.com reported this news it was fresh and served hot. When you dish it out, the news is old and cold. Dude at least serve up some geniune insightful analysis to make it seem that you're making a contribution.

2008 Jun 05 01:42 PM

[bato sa bato:]

It 's not so surprising that mr. Icahn will give such a negative remark about the Yahoo BOD and Mr. Yangs position in dealing with Msft. It is to Icahn's best interest to rid the present BOD and replace them with his own group of posse. As a YHOO share holder I applaud Mr. Yang and the BOD for not cowing to Ballmers bullying. It's about time that somebody stands up for the weak ones.

2008 Jun 05 04:52 PM