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Last week I wrote about an institution or massive investor that was perceived to be buying blocks of Yahoo! shares. My source was unable to put his (or her) finger on exactly who that person or organization was but he/she was certain the buying fit a pattern that spelled big-pockets and suggested even bigger plans. Someone or some thing’s buying was keeping Yahoo! shares above the $25 mark, far higher than observers expected after Microsoft bailed on its acquisition attempt.
Guess what… Yahoo!’s back in play.
Today legendary activist investor, Carl Icahn, announced he had purchased approximately 3% of Yahoo!’s shares in a bid to take over the company. He has been buying shares for the past few weeks, apparently in the hopes of getting Microsoft back to the negotiating table. Icahn declared his stock purchases today because tomorrow is the deadline for nominating names to stand for Yahoo!’s Board of Directors at the company’s Annual General Meeting next month.
Icahn is taking an enormous gamble as there has been no signals from Microsoft it is interested in reopening negotiations with Yahoo!, having instead re-adopted the “Go it alone in search” stance. He has been known to take such gambles in the past, sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully.