socialmedian: Investor Carl Icahn leaves Yahoo board, apparently satisfied

User-submitted headlines for this story

Clips

Investor Carl Icahn leaves Yahoo board, apparently satisfied

Source: VentureBeat

Oct 23, 2009

Summary

Carl Icahn, the Yahoo investor who attempted a hostile takeover of the company last year, has resigned from the board of directors.

Icahn’s move against Yahoo’s board, especially then-chief executive Jerry Yang, was prompted by the failure of the struggling company to reach an acquisition deal with Microsoft. Last July, Icahn threatened to try to get Yahoo’s entire board replaced with members more open to a Microsoft deal, but instead negotiated to get a seat on the board himself.

Since then, things seem to have been going Icahn’s way — Jerry Yang stepped down as CEO, Yahoo signed a search deal with Microsoft, and new CEO Carol Bartz’s cost-control measures doubled profits compared to last year. Now Icahn says an activist investor is no longer needed on the board, and he can focus on his other investments.