14 DAY TRIAL // The smoldering conflict between Yahoo!'s board of directors and investor Carl Icahn is again beginning to take new shapes. While Yahoo! is making its belief known that, if Microsoft had an available offer, it would put it on the table, Icahn is assuring Yahoo! that Microsoft's intentions are serious.
Whether we're talking about Microsoft's aim of buying all of Yahoo! or only the Search assets, the investor specifies that there's no room for further negotiation as long as the current board of directors is in charge. "Steve [Ballmer, Microsoft CEO] made it abundantly clear that, due to his experiences with Yahoo! during the past several months, he cannot negotiate any transaction with the current board," stated Icahn in an open letter. The easiest solution seems, for the investor, the replacement of the executives with some affiliates of his, as he has already proposed for the future elections.
The back and forth stages of the discussions prompted the Yahoo! camp to take on a rather reserved approach on the matter. "If Mr. Icahn has an actual plan for Yahoo! beyond hoping that Microsoft might actually consummate a deal which they have repeatedly walked away from, we would be very interested in hearing it," asserted the board of directors, blaming Microsoft for the failure of the previous talks and asking for a tangible solution on behalf of the investor.
The truth is that it's difficult to remain calm, as Yahoo! still is, when the proxy fighter Icahn is giving credit to the rivals and then gets involved in the delicate matter of directors' salaries. "According to publicly available information, Google's income from operations grew 59% per year over the last two years while Yahoo!'s shrank 21% per year. However, none of the above has caused the Yahoo! board to hesitate in paying themselves $10,000 per week. IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE," shouted the investor, referring to the what he personally believes is anecessary change of the board of executives.