Monday, June 11, 2007

PaidContent: Yahoo CEO May Face Dissenting Shareholders At AGM On Tuesday

From today's PaidContent.org:

By Rafat Ali - Sun 10 Jun 2007 10:43 PM PST

Terry Semel will surely face some tough questions from investors at its annual general meeting this Tuesday. Not much will happen with these protest, but at least one activist investor believes it could add momentum to campaigns to overhaul its executives and replace Semel, reports WSJ.

Among the gripes: Semel’s annual salary, in face of continued stock and performance decline for the company. Semel’s total compensation last year of $71.7 million put him at the top of the list of highest-paid CEOs at Standard & Poor’s 500 companies that have filed with regulators this year, according to an AP analysis of the filings.

AP: “The company is drifting,” said Eric Jackson, who intends to confront Semel during the meeting on behalf of about 80 Yahoo stockholders who own a combined 2 million shares (about 0.2 percent of Yahoo’s outstanding stock) in the company. “And its problems ultimately lie at Terry’s feet.” Besides pushing for Semel’s ouster, Jackson’s group believes six other directors on Yahoo’s 10-member board should be bounced: Roy Bostock, Ron Burkle, Eric Hippeau, Arthur Kern, Robert Kotick, and Gary Wilson. Only Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, HP executive Vyomesh Joshi and Ed Kozel, CEO of Silicon Valley startup Skyrider Inc., have done enough to remain on the board, Jackson contends. Lots more details in the AP story.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yahoo reminds me of IBM these days.

I believe that if anything is readily apparent, it's that the old style of management taught in business schools today has failed.

Semco in Brazil has the correct approach to how companies should be operated today. Especially when an outsider is brought in with different industry experience.

Anonymous said...

Even Gore's approach with Current tv will change the future of the networks.

There are some people out there who "get it". "Control" isn't the way anymore; giving up control and sharing power is the future.

Unfortunately, not enough though.

Anonymous said...

Question for Terry Semel:
Based on his total compensation last year of $71.7 million, does he
plan to buy some Yahoo stock on his own (for instance 10% @ $7.17M
--or-- 20% @ $14.34M) with part of his compensation?

Unknown said...

Nice interview on CNBC this afternoon.

Unknown said...

Thanks, John, and everyone else for the comments. Much appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Yahoo's financial page is a profit center for YHOO--for now

Recently a YHOO column called "Brazen Careerist" stated that one of the "myths" is that a good job gets rewarded. Instead, the columnist suggested, your likeability is key.

This is the sort of idiotic and clueless commentary Yahoo is now running on their pages. Given Semel's performance, obviously a good job is no longer that important at this sinking ship.