Archive: May, 2008

CNBC is reporting the emergence of another powerful body in the fight to control the Yahoo! Board of Directors. A hedge fund, Paulson & Co. has been quietly amassing Yahoo! shares starting shortly after Microsoft made its unsolicited acquisition offer.

Run by veteran investor John Paulson, the hedge fund made billions over the last year betting on the financial chaos of the sub-prime credit meltdown. Paulson & Co. now owns approximately 3.4% of Yahoo!

Paulson is likely to support the group led by Carl Icahn that wishes to push Yahoo! into accepting Microsoft’s $47.5 billion dollar purchase offer.

Yahoo! continues to say it is open to a deal with Microsoft however it wants the bid price raised to $37/share or approximately $53.2 billion. Microsoft has not yet made comment.

Billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn announced today he was taking the Yahoo! Board of Directors to the court of shareholder opinion. Icahn, who has acquired approximately 59 million shares of Yahoo! (about 4% of shares), put the proxy fight in motion this morning with a letter to Yahoo! Chairman Roy Bostock.

Icahn’s letter to Bostock said he was putting ten names up for election to the Yahoo! Board in a bid to re-open acquisition negotiations with Microsoft.

“It is clear to me that the board of directors of Yahoo has acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders and Microsoft,” Mr. Icahn said in the letter. “It is quite obvious that Microsoft’s bid of $33 per share is a superior alternative to Yahoo’s prospects on a standalone basis.”

While thousands of other Yahoo! shareholders might agree with Icahn’s opinion, few of them have the resources to take action. Icahn does. His named slate of potential directors is made up of a who’s-who list of dot-com or entertainment industry executives. According to the NYTimes, the list includes;

The first game of the second Victoria Tech Hockey League (The League of Extraordinarily Injured Gentlemen) season took place at the Boys and Girls Club gymnasium last night. Facing a larger team (both physically and in numbers), Team Metamend put on a great show but was defeated by a score of 11 – 8 by the Viking Raiders of Reliable Controls.

Thanks to all who participated (especially the patient referee) for a great game. Even if Team Metamend scored slightly fewer goals than our opposition did, the games are being played for charity so no matter who scores more goals, the entire community wins.