Yahoo bosses under fresh pressure

Bosses at US internet firm Yahoo are under fresh pressure after it emerged that opposition to them at its recent AGM was far greater than first thought.

The outcome of shareholder votes were revised after technical glitches meant some votes had not been counted.

The revisions show that 33.7% voted against the re-election of chief executive Jerry Yang - much more than the 14.6% figure first published.

Yahoo bosses came under fire for their handling of Microsoft's recent bid.

Error

Yahoo rejected Microsoft's $47.5bn offer, arguing that it undervalued the firm's assets and future business prospects.

Some investors believe Yahoo was too hasty in spurning the offer and has not come up with an alternative strategy for future growth.

Rebel investor Carl Icahn, a critic of Mr Yang and the current management, negotiated three seats on the board following a long campaign against the firm.

Revised details of the votes cast at the recent annual shareholder meeting will increase the pressure on Mr Yang and his fellow directors.

The voting process was reviewed after a major shareholder, Capital Research Global Investors, complained that its votes weren't properly reflected in the official outcome.

'Pressure'

Following an audit, it was found that 100 million shares had not been accurately reflected, a situation blamed on a printing mix-up by an intermediary processing firm.

The new figures show that nearly 40% of shares were withheld from the re-election of chairman Roy Bostock, not 20% as originally indicated.

Other directors also faced higher protest votes against re-election than it first seemed although none of the original results will be overturned.

"It is important for Yahoo's board to understand there is still pressure on them," said hedge fund manager and Yahoo shareholder Eric Jackson.

"I thought Yahoo's board was kind of let off the hook last week when they didn't really deserve to be."

In a statement, Yahoo noted there had been what it described as a "tabulation error" in the results but stressed this had not affected the outcome of the election of directors. Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/7544326.stm
Published: 2008/08/05 23:09:18 GMT
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