Friday, May 16, 2008

Yahoo! Shareholders Battle Board of Directors

It is unsurprising that the recriminations against the management and Board of directors of Yahoo! have started. Predictably, they are based on whether the decision to snub Microsoft Corporation's offer of acquisition was commercially prudent. IHT reports here that Mr. Icahn is questioning the prudence of the decision to reject what he considers a decent offer. In seeking to replace the existing Board of directors and interest Microsoft in completing the deal, he is perhaps being too presumptuous. This is because it may not be in Microsoft's interest to acquire a corporation whose major shareholders and board are at serious odds of its prospects.

However, what this situation illustrates is the fact that a proposal for acquisition by a large firm is fraught with risks such as a shareholder's revolt irrespective of the decision to go one way or the other. It is also clearly evident that the substantial holders of Yahoo1 stocks are most interested din an early deal that would be of benefit only in the event of an acquisition by a large corporation such as Microsoft.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The Board of Directors should have knowledge of Corporate Governance to deal with these situations. They wil not only know to manage the management issues but they will also be able to answer questions related to Management issues.To learn more visit the Corporate Governance website. It also has 600+ resources on Boards and Corporate Governance.