"Activist" Icahn stands down from Yahoo board

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 26 Oct 2009 at 09:27

Carl Icahn has stepped down from the Yahoo board, claiming that the company no longer needs an "activist" in the boardroom.

Icahn joined the Yahoo board last summer in a bid to oust then CEO Jerry Yang. Icahn was furious that Yang and his fellow board members had rebuffed Microsoft's attempted takeover.

Yang survived temporarily, but eventually resigned last November, after a search deal with Google collapsed, leaving him to practically beg Microsoft to come back to the negotiating table.

Yang's replacement, Carol Bartz, has since signed a deal with Microsoft that sees the software giant provide technology for Yahoo's search engine.

This seems to have convinced Icahn that his work at Yahoo is done. "I don't believe that it is necessary at this time to have an activist on the board of Yahoo and, currently, my attention is focused on other matters," he writes in his resignation letter.

"Carol [Bartz] is doing a great job and I believe the Microsoft transaction will provide great long-term benefits, the potential of which many still do not understand," he adds.

Icahn, who is still a significant shareholder in Yahoo, is doubtless still rueing the company's earlier decision to turn down Microsoft's $33 per share takeover offer. The company's share price stands at just over $17 today.