Yahoo Inc. began pressing a case to major shareholders Monday that its board and management deserve a chance to prove they made the right move when they rejected a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp.
The missed opportunity to sell to Microsoft infuriated many Yahoo shareholders, prompting activist investor Carl Icahn to agitate for replacing Yahoo's nine directors and reviving negotiations with Microsoft. If he gains control of the board, Icahn intends to fire Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang as chief executive.
In response, Yahoo has assembled a 32-page shareholder presentation to elaborate on the points it has been emphasizing since Microsoft withdrew its bid May 3.
Investors will decide the dustup in a vote scheduled Aug. 1 at Yahoo's annual meeting. That leaves another month for the Sunnyvale, California-based company and Icahn to disparage each other.
And with Yahoo shares sliding back toward $19.18 -- their value before Microsoft's bid -- Yahoo's management is facing even more pressure to end the financial malaise that triggered the takeover bid in the first place. Yahoo shares fell 44 cents to $20.89 in Monday's afternoon trading.
Icahn didn't respond to a request for comment Monday, but he wrote on his blog last week that he would share his latest opinions on Yahoo "shortly."
Yahoo argues that entrusting the company's fate to Icahn would be foolhardy because his strategy centers on resurrecting a dead deal.
Its breaking point came after Yang and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer couldn't agree on a price. Ballmer had orally offered $33 per share, but Yang wanted $37 per share -- a price that Yahoo's stock hasn't reached in nearly 2 1/2 years.
Since Microsoft walked away, Yahoo said it tried to reopen sales negotiations in meetings on May 17 and June 8, only to be told "unequivocally" that the software maker no longer is interested in...

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