14 DAY TRIAL // Yahoo!'s stockholders who still haven't decided whether they will use their white or gold proxy card are given a strong hint. Yahoo! has just modified its webpage in order to prevent the change of the current board of directors, due to the implication of the activist investor Carl Icahn. At the bottom of the homepage, users can see a new button, entitled "Your Yahoo! Your Vote!", which, when pressed, leads to a webpage whose header cites one of the investor's blunders: "It's hard to understand these technology companies".
The content of the page goes further, as it underscores the damaging effects Icahn's actions had on the other companies where he holds shares. As the chart provided by Yahoo! Shows, the share value of 12 out of 15 companies decreased since the investor's implication.
"The choice for Yahoo! stockholders is clear: re-elect your experienced and dedicated Board with a clear strategy and a demonstrated commitment to create value for Yahoo! stockholders, or turn your Company and its uniquely valuable combination of assets over to Carl Icahn and his nominees and allow Microsoft and Mr. Icahn to dismantle the Company and deliver our search business to Microsoft on terms that would be disadvantageous to Yahoo! Stockholders," is the rather desperate message displayed on the linked webpage.
The company offers even more details on the specially designed webpage, describing the differences between the current "highly experienced and independent board" and the slate proposed by Icahn. As Yahoo! says, Icahn's supported team "is acting under agreement with Icahn under which Icahn pays each nominee a fee of $25,000 and indemnifies them." By underscoring the nature of the relationship between the investor and his slate, the current board tries to underscore that each decision will have to have the approval of Icahn, who doesn't seem to be the most gifted businessman.
There are only 2 weeks left until we will all know where Yahoo! is heading, as the votes will be reckoned on August 1.