If Carl Icahn expects Yahoo shareholders to hand him their company on a plate, he’ll have to do better than this.
The war of words with the Yahoo board that stuttered along for much of this week has looked like a naked attempt to get the issue back into the headlines. For all his blustering and supposed outrage, though, Icahn seems to have few ideas up his sleeve for what to do if Microsoft really doesn’t want to buy the company.
Challenged by Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock to say what exactly he would do if his nominees were handed control of Yahoo at the annual meeting coming up on August 1st, Icahn on Friday came up with five things:
First, I would work to have the board replace your “poison pill” severance plan with an acceptable alternative.
Second, I intend to ask our new board to hire a talented and experienced CEO (attempting to replicate Google’s success with Eric Schmidt) to replace Jerry Yang and return Jerry to his role as “Chief Yahoo”. Indeed, it was much speculated that Jerry would serve in the CEO role temporarily until a permanent CEO was hired after the board asked Terry Semel to resign.
Third, I intend to ask our new board to inform Microsoft that unless any alternative transaction can insure a $33 or higher stock price (of which I am skeptical) all talks of alternative transactions are over.
Fourth, I will ask our new board to offer publicly to sell Yahoo! to Microsoft in a friendly and cooperative transaction.
Fifth, to the extent Microsoft does not want to make a proposal, I will ask our new board do a deal on search with Google, but only if it contains termination provisions that would in no way impede a subsequent acquisition by Microsoft.
That’s it? A promise to find the next Eric Schmidt and a partnership with Google, even though Icahn himself has not been privy to any of the discussions about the complex economic, strategic and anti-trust issues raised by the idea?
If Icahn can’t draw Microsoft back to the table with a full takeover bid, Yahoo probably hasn’t got too much to worry about from his agitation (as Rupert Murdoch suggested last week.)
