Yang Loses Control Of The Yahoo Board
The New York Post is reporting that a mutiny is underway in Yahoo’s boardroom, with concerned Chairman Roy Bostock turning on CEO Jerry Yang’s resistance to Microsoft’s proposed takeover. If Yang successfully weasels out of Microsoft’s grasp, some of the board is worried that shareholders will sue, especially if Yahoo’s moves are motivated more by some emotional need to keep Yahoo independent than the more important financial need to keep Yahoo from going dead broke.
According to one source close to the situation, “The emotional part of Yang would rather do anything but sell to Microsoft, but he doesn’t have the cards to come up with a value-creating, competitive alternative for shareholders.”
“While Yahoo!’s board has a fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder returns, running the risk of derailing a deal is dangerous to Yahoo! shareholders,” said Jefferies analyst Youssef Squali.
For now, Bostock and other board members, such as billionaire Ron Burkle, are leading the fight to force Yahoo’s old guard to do whatever is necessary to ensure the company has a healthy future. Opposing them are Eric Hippeau from Softbank and Robert Kotick, the CEO of Activision.
(via Valleywag)
[…] InsideMicrosoft has a post about things not all lovey-dovey and smooth on the Yahoo board. There seems to be some disagreement between Yahoo! CEO and founder Jerry Yang and the board on the refusal of Microsoft’s takeover bid. […]
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