Yahoo and Icahn strike agreement, end proxy contest
Yahoo Inc. reached a settlement with billionaire investor Carl Icahn today, giving him and two of his nominees seats on an expanded board, ending a high profile-fight for control of the Web portal.
Under the agreement, Icahn will become a Yahoo board member following the company's annual meeting Aug. 1. Two other board members will be selected from a list of nine candidates chosen by Icahn.
They will join a Yahoo board that is to be expanded to eleven members. Eight current Yahoo board members will seek re-election at the upcoming annual meeting, and one - Robert Kotick - will step down.
Icahn, who owns nearly 5 percent of Yahoo's shares, has been leading a high-profile fight to replace Yahoo's board with his own slate of directors in the wake of a failed bid by Microsoft Corp. to acquire the Internet giant and two unsuccessful proposals to buy its search business. If successful, he had intended to restart the failed talks to sell all or part of the company.
The settlement averts an acrimonious shareholder showdown but doesn't fully answer the question: What's next for Yahoo?