After spending weeks ridiculing Yahoo Inc.'s board of directors, nettlesome investor Carl Icahn has piped down and won't even be at the Internet company's annual meeting Friday.
But other prickly shareholders are expected to be there to skewer Yahoo's leadership for spurning a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp. that looks even sweeter with each passing day.
Since Microsoft withdrew its offer in early May, Yahoo's stock price has plunged 30 percent to leave the company's market value nearly $20 billion below what shareholders would have been paid if Yang and the rest of the board had accepted the bid.
"The Microsoft negotiations were just the latest example of the negligence by this board," said Eric Jackson, a Yahoo shareholder who plans to confront management during Friday's meeting. "There is still a lot of anger and frustration among shareholders right now."
Jackson, who represents a group of stockholders with about 3.2 million shares, spearheaded a protest that culminated in Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang replacing Terry Semel as Yahoo's chief executive six days after last year's annual meeting.
Yahoo shareholders were agitated even before the breakdown in Microsoft talks because the company's profits and stock have been sinking for several years, despite an Internet advertising boom.
Since 2005, Yahoo has lost nearly half its market value. Meanwhile, the stock of rival Google Inc. has climbed 15 percent to create an additional $20 billion in shareholder wealth.
Yahoo shares fell 23 cents, 1.2 percent, to $19.66 in Friday morning trading, near the price they had when Microsoft made its initial takeover bid six months ago.
As payback, many shareholders are expected to oppose the re-election of Yahoo's current board in a largely symbolic gesture.
But Yahoo still has the support of many shareholders, including one of its largest, Legg Mason Capital Management Inc. The Baltimore-based investment firm has a 4.4...

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