New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Hedge Funder Eric Jackson of Ironfire Capital will call on Yahoo Inc. to accept a board of directors mixed with members both proposed by the company and from a dissident slate backed by billionaire investor Carl Icahn.

Jackson, who heads the grassroots group Yahoo Plan B, wants five members to come from Yahoo and four to be elected from Icahn’s proposed slate of nine.

"It’s become clear over the last two weeks that many shareholders are reluctant to support the entire list of Icahn nominees," Jackson said in a statement expected to be issued today.

Icahn had launched his proxy battle two months ago when he rationalized that Yahoo head Jerry Yang was not looking out for the shareholders when he rejected Microsoft’s $33 a share bid on the company.  

It was then that Icahn proposed his slate of board directors which included himself, Frank Biondi, Robert Shaye and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.  Icahn proceeded to garner the support of many prominent hedge funds and wealthy shareholders, though some have been reluctant to put all their faith in the corporate raider.

Jackson is hoping the two parties can reach an agreement before the showdown happens at Yahoo’s annual shareholder meeting on August 1st.  

The Yahoo Plan B group is a Web-based activist group comprised of 150 small Yahoo shareholders who hold about 3.2 million Yahoo shares.  Members of the group vote individually rather than as a group.

Julie Scuderi
Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net
Email: julie@hedgeco.net

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New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Another hedge fund is backing Carl Icahn’s proxy battle against Yahoo, days after Paulson & Co. gave their support.

Third Point LLC, a hedge fund that manages $5.7 billion in assets, is believed to be on board after accumulating 5 million shares of Yahoo Inc., along with T. Boone Pickens, an oil investor who has amassed 10 million shares.

An undisclosed source told reporters that Third Point head Dan Loeb “strongly supports Icahn and supports his slate and thinks that he is shining a bright light on the botched process at the Yahoo board in negotiating the deal with Microsoft.”

Icahn believes that Yahoo should be sold to Microsoft, in order to better compete with Google. Yahoo rejected Microsoft’s initial offer of $47.5 billion before the software giant broke off talks earlier this month.

Initiating his fight last Thursday, Icahn believes, “it is quite obvious that Microsoft’s bid of $33 per share is a superior alternative to Yahoo’s prospects on a standalone basis." Talks between Microsoft and Yahoo are said to have been revived.

Paulson & Co., the $30 billion hedge fund manned by famed John Paulson, currently holds 50 million shares in Yahoo. Paulson has expressed his desire for the merger, aligning himself with Icahn last week.

Hedge funds, who push for high returns in the short run, many times take a proactive approach in restructuring a company in which they are invested. Icahn is also aiming to strategically place himself, along with Mark Cuban, Frank Biondi and Robert Shaye on the board.

Even with only a few companies backing the proxy battle, the force behind them is monumental. The supporters will have accumulated over 80 million shares of Yahoo, which equates to over 5% of the total shares.

Julie Scuderi
Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net
Email: julie@hedgeco.net

HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds!
Be sure to check out our sister sites. For more information, visit www.hedgeconetworks.com

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