The sale of Yahoo to Microsoft isn’t going away without a proxy fight. Billionaire Carl Icahn, the guy they made Wall Street movies about in the Eighties and had to invent the phrase “corporate raider” for, is said to have gathered up 50 million shares in Yahoo.
That’s 3.5 percent of the company, and enough to attempt a coup that could force the sale Microsoft walked away from last week. Three or four of ten Yahoo board seats would be enough to run a “short slate” of directors, and enough to carry out Terry Semel’s old hot seat for Jerry Yang to sit in.
Though unable to receive confirmation from Icahn himself, CNBC cites “people who have spoken with Icahn” as sources—presumably not his doorman or chauffeur. Icahn’s short slate would take the place of dissident shareholder Eric Jackson, whose Iron Horse Capital owns just 3.3 million shares of Yahoo, who decided against forcing a sale.
Whatever happens, we’ll know by Thursday. Icahn has until then to pick the proxy fight in advance of the July board meeting.
The other side of this, of course, is Microsoft. After harassing Yahoo most of the winter and spring, the lusty Beast of Redmond walked away from a $37 per share counteroffer from Jerry Yang. Once jilted and disappointed at the brideprice, the company, spoken for by Bill Gates, acted as if they didn’t need Yahoo anyway and wouldn’t be back to the negotiating table.
Few believe that, of course, including stock traders, who have driven Yahoo shares up 4 percent since word got out about Icahn’s possible proxy fight.
