Icahn softens stance on Yahoo

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 16 Jun 2008 at 09:05

Carl Icahn, currently waging a proxy battle to overthrow the Yahoo board, has admitted the deal with Google "might have some merit."

"While the Google deal is not the same as an offer of $34.375 per share for Yahoo, I am continuing to study it, and it might have some merit," Icahn said in an interview with Reuters, before signalling a potential softening of his stance.

"I continue to be extremely disappointed with the Yahoo management, but the Google deal might have some merit and seems to be better then the alternative deal proposed by Microsoft."

Icahn declined to comment on whether he would continue with his proxy battle, which was aimed at replacing the board with one that would force through a deal with Microsoft.

The Google deal comes with extensive "change of control" provisions that allows the company to bail out of the deal in the event of Yahoo being acquired or its board being replaced at its upcoming annual shareholders meeting in August.