SEO Blog

The Fairmont lobby was nearly empty. Having earlier cut a deal guaranteeing himself a trio of seats in exchange for his silence, agitator investor Carl Icahn didn’t bother showing up. The hundreds, perhaps thousands of freaked out shareholders expected didn’t either and those who did could only offer an empty earful to the board. According to reports in CNET and the New York Times, only a few hundred shareholders and Yahoo employees, joined by an equal number of journalists attended the live meeting.

Surprisingly, all of the board members standing for reelection were reelected. The only major surprise was the withdrawal of former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller whose nomination was blocked at the last minute by TimeWarner. Miller, who many expected would eventually replace Yang as Yahoo CEO, has an active non-compete clause which TimeWarner decided not to waive.

The reelection of Yang, Bostock et al does not necessarily show shareholders have faith in the wisdom of the current board. Shareholders really didn’t have many options. At least Yang’s way shows some sense of direction.

Today marks a special holiday for those of us living in beautiful British Columbia. The first weekend in August is set aside as a civic holiday celebrating the founding of Canada’s westernmost province. This year marks the 150th anniversary of British Columbia.

In Ontario, where I am currently sitting, the first weekend in August is also a civic holiday, albeit without any particular anniversary or special date to associate it with. For Canadians living on the east side of the Rockies, winters are long and indescribably cold and summers, while short, are extremely warm. The August long-weekend is a chance for everyone to enjoy the summer, however briefly.

For me, this August long weekend marks the start of the first real vacation I’ve had in several years. That’s why I’m on the other side of Canada today and not celebrating back home in Victoria over three long rounds of golf. While away on vacation I’ll be keeping the same blogging schedule however I will not likely be covering the business or analytical side of search for the next ten days. As of tomorrow, I will be heading north to a place just barely beyond civilization. I wonder what life sounds like in the absence of a computer fan.