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Don?t divide Yahoo

by on04 December 2008

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Take all or nothing, says Icahn

Billionaire outspoken stockholder of Yahoo, Carl Icahn, has publicly stated that he opposes a partial sale of Yahoo! Inc., largely because he believes that Yahoo’s stock is undervalued.  And, of course, it certainly would personally benefit Icahn if Yahoo were acquired lock, stock and barrel, since Icahn is on the Board of Directors and owns a sizeable block of shares of Yahoo. Further, he just acquired 7 million more shares last week.

Rumors have been circulating that Jonathan Miller, the former AOL Chief Executive Officer, is attempting to raise the capital to acquire all or a part of Yahoo. Miller reportedly believes he can put together a deal worth between $20 to $22 per share. Yahoo’s stock has plunged since Microsoft’s initial offer to buy all of Yahoo’s shares last February for about $33/share, down to its current post-stock market crash value of about $10/share.

Icahn is still holding out hope for an offer from Microsoft that would make him an even wealthier man, as well as many other shareholders. Yahoo’s CEO for most of 2008, Jerry Yang, resigned and has not yet been replaced.  Icahn said he thinks that Yahoo needs a new CEO who is "a hard-nosed, cost-cutting kind of guy," but did not mention any particular candidates by name.

In addition to Yang's resignation, a number of the executives at Yahoo have been abandoning Yahoo as if it were a sinking ship. On top of this Yahoo has had a 64 percent net income drop and announced that it would off at least 1,430 employees by 2008 year end.
Last modified on 04 December 2008
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