San Francisco - In a sharp letter to stockholders Yahoo
chairman Roy Bostock and CEO Jerry Yang said that the alliance
between investor Carl Icahn and Microsoft would 'destroy shareholder
value' with a plan that they called 'stupefying.'
The letter came as the battle for the internet pioneer heats up
ahead of a proxy shareholder vote set for August 1 in which Icahn is
trying to replace Yang and the entire Yahoo board with a slate that
would reach a deal to sell all or part of the company to Microsoft.
Icahn accuses the company's current leaders of botching
negotiations with Microsoft which had offered to buy the company for
47.5 billion dollars before withdrawing its offer when Yahoo demanded
a higher valuation.
Icahn and Microsoft have since joined forces to propose deals that
would separate the company's search business from its other assets in
a plan that Microsoft believes would enable it to better compete with
Google.
But Bostock and Yang said that Icahn was ignorant about the
internet business and that his proposed deal with Microsoft would
meet 'only their very narrow special interests.' They defended the
existing board, citing initiatives planned such as 'unlocking the
value of our Asia assets' and saying the company remains open to
'negotiating a value creating transaction (including with Microsoft)
that provides real and certain value -- not just the possibility of
value.'
'Icahn has made it clear that his only objective is to sell part
or all of Yahoo to Microsoft. That fact, combined with his lack of
an operating plan going forward, means that he will have no leverage
to negotiate a fair deal with Microsoft,' the letter said.
'Microsoft's flip flops and inconsistencies over the past five
months are so stupefying that one can only conclude that Microsoft
was never fully committed to acquiring Yahoo,' the letter said.
USA
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