Reactions to story from Silicon Alley Insider

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  Yahoo to Icahn: Hey, Irrational is Our Middle Name

  http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080515/yahoo-to-icahn/
  148 days ago in John Paczkowski | Digital Daily | AllThingsD · Authority: 324

  If, as Carl Icahn claimed this morning, Yahoos board has acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders, the Internet company apparently sees no point in acting rationally to regain it. In a letter to the investor-agitator, Yahoo Chairman Roy
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  Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock to Carl Icahn: Back off [Acquisitions]

  http://valleywag.com/391044/yahoo-chairman-roy-bostock-to-ca...
  148 days ago in Valleywag, Silicon Valley's Tech Gossip Rag · Authority: 5,918

  Yahoo board chairman Roy Bostock has penned a response to billionaire investor Carl Icahn's verbose missive, who's trying to replace the Internet company's board with directors who favor a deal with Microsoft:Unfortunately, your letter reflects a
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  Yahoo Investor Gordy Crawford Ready To Throw Jerry Under Bus

  http://www.baanmo.com/home/content/yahoo-investor-gordy-craw...
  95 days ago in Published scoops | baanmo.com · Authority: 77

  Influential Yahoo investor Gordon Crawford, who controls a 6.5% slug of Yahoo stock, has told Jerry Yang and his remaining allies that he's ready to link up with Carl Icahn in Carl's proxy fight, Kara Swisher reports. That's the polite version. Actually, it sounds like Gordy and his lieutenants pounded Jerry like the Marines hazed Gomer Pyle in "Full Metal Jacket" immediately after the Jelly Donut scene: At the meeting, according to several sources with knowledge of the encounter, Yang-as well as Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock and board members Ron Burkle and Gary Wilson-strongly defended their actions thus far. ...But Crawford and his top analysts aggressively questioned Yang's assertions and pressed him on Yahoo's strategy going forward. And they indicated they had lost patience, as Yahoo shares have drifted downward in the wake of the collapse of Microsoft's takeover attempt... According to sources, Crawford told the Yahoo contingent that he was considering backing Icahn's new board slate-although he has not yet firmly committed to it-if the company did not engage with Microsoft over some sort of deal or find a suitable alternative. We've already noted that Gordy and Carl make for strange bedfellows, but so do Carl and Steve Ballmer. Carl and anyone who uses a computer, really. That's not the point. What is the point? If Crawford really intended to side with Icahn, he could have done so already. Instead, by threatening Yang and co, then leaking said threat, Gordy is trying to get a point across to Jerry. He wants Jerry to sell to Microsoft himself, or "find a suitable alternative". We're assuming he doesn't mean the AOL combination that Yahoo is now reportedly pursuing. So what exactly does he have in mind? See Also: Gordon Crawford To Carl Icahn: You're Not So Clueless, After All
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  Carl and the Giant Proxy Battle, or What Google and John McCain Have in Common.

  http://www.digitalspritz.com/2008/05/carl-and-the-gi.html
  147 days ago in DigitalSpritz · No authority yet

  It's on everyone's lips these days. (Well, everyone geeky, that it is.) Carl Icahn is mounting a proxy battle to force Yahoo back into an acquisition by Microsoft. And he's awfully prickly in his moves, that Carl. He's gotten Bill Miller and Gordon Crawford to change their tunes about the price -- putting their 12% of Yahoo on the table. He's nominated my favorite Facebook Friend™ Mark Cuban for the board -- the same Mark who became a billionaire through Yahoo's purchase of Broadcast.com. According to MSNBC, Icahn's tactics are quite simple: his proxy battles consist of buying up minority stakes in companies he thinks are badly run, then humiliating their management. He's won 10 of the 18 battles he's mounted. Prickly but effective, that Carl. However, I'm noticing some interesting parallels to the presidential primaries in the press coverage over this brouhaha: The real battle is elsewhere, and its leader is currently getting a free pass. By "leader," I mean the John McCain of online business: Google, of course. As Geoff Yang (no relation to Jerry) of Redpoint Ventures said: Someone has got to stop Google. Not that anyone is implying that Google is innately evil; Google just happens to be the proud holder of a dangerous amount of market share: one that threatens choice, and puts people in a potentially perilous spot when it comes to personal data. When Microsoft held a similar position in the marketplace (remember those days?), I personally retaliated by refusing to give the company more than a sliver of my business. I've always had a Mac (or four), so operating system was not an issue. I bought Microsoft Office apps, did my browsing on Netscape (and now Firefox), purchased a PlayStation and a Blackberry. Now, after reading Cory Doctorow's perhaps not-so-tongue-in-cheek story for Radar magazine, "Scroogled," I'm doing the same with Google. You can have my search and online advertising activity, thank you, but you're not getting the apps, the feeds, the chat, the mobile OS, or the start page. (I do cop to using Gmail, but not for my primary email). Even so-called "Friend Connect" is a bit challenging: do I really want to make Google the primary holder of all my personal data? What if they suddenly truly became evil? What would be my recourse? The consequences have Facebook rather worried. So, while Yahoo and Microsoft duke it out in a Clinton/Obama-esque battle, Google gets to pose as the good guy, the lone representative of all that is wise and powerful on the internets. Yahoo needs some help? Google rides to the rescue, and its all-encompassing mission -- organizing the world's information -- doesn't seem quite so threatening. Their straight-talk express puts everything in its proper little box. The algorithm keeps everything tidy. And Google keeps growing its market share. Hey, Carl: maybe you can take on Google next? There's no buyer big enough, for sure, but I'd certainly like to see a little anarchy introduced into algorithm. Much like the war in Iraq, let's not assume that Google's market dominance is going to last 100 years - -perhaps we could do something about it a little sooner than that? My money's on you.
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  Hedge-Fund Mogul Paulson Joins Icahn In Yahoo Siege; 30% of Proxy Vote In Bag

  http://adsensetrick.com/en/2008/05/hedge-fund-mogul-paulson-...
  147 days ago in AdsenseTrick.com offers adsense tips adsense tricks adsense tips tricks · Authority: 7

  Hedge-Fund Mogul Paulson Joins Icahn In Yahoo Siege; 30% of Proxy Vote In Bag By admin0 | May 16, 2008 Silicon Alley Insider; Henry Blodget | May 15, 2008 3:10 PM Carl Icahn owns 59 million Yahoo shares (YHOO), or 4% of the company. John Paulson, head of merger-arb shop Paulson & Co., who made a reported $3 billion personally shorting sub-prime last year, owns 50 million shares, Reuters says. So that’s about 8% of Yahoo between them. Icahn is cleared to buy another 4%, which would make 12%. No question how those shares will vote in a proxy fight. Then there’s the 16% owned by Capital Research, whose Gordon Crawford was “extremely angry” with Jerry Yang for blowing the original Microsoft (MSFT) deal. And the 7% or so owned by Legg Mason’s Bill Miller, who as much as said he’d be happy with $34 a share. Add all of them together and you’re at about 30%-35% of Yahoo’s stock. Bill Miller won’t vote to sack Yahoo’s board unless he knows Microsoft will play ball, but let’s assume Carl can at least create the impression that Microsoft’s on board. Then Icahn, Paulson, & Co. only need to make it clear that they can scrape together another 15%-20% of the votes…and Jerry Yang and Roy Bostock will be on the next Seattle plane. source : SAI Topics: Stock & Investment, Internet Business, Yahoo vs Microsoft, Microsoft, Yahoo

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