Yahoo! Tech Ticker: Jackson: Anger Level "High" as Shareholder Meeting Begins
Posted Aug 01, 2008 12:44pm EDT by Aaron Task in Investing, Internet, Media
Related: yhoo, msft
It's the calm before the storm. I'm sitting outside the Imperial Ballroom at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose where reporters and shareholders await the start of Yahoo's annual meeting at 10 a.m. PT.
Ahead of the meeting, the big buzz is about an LA Times story reporting that former AOL chief Jon Miller will not be joining the newly configured Yahoo board, as was widely expected. Sources here are dismissing the story, which wasn't well sourced. But this is obviously a big development and I'll update the situation if/as developments warrant.
A short time ago, I caught up with Eric Jackson, founder of activist hedge fund Ironfire Capital, whose effort to oust the entire Yahoo board has garnered pledges totaling some 3.2 million shares.
Unlike many others, Jackson's main gripe with Bostock, Yang & Co. is not that Yahoo failed to get a deal with Microsoft. Rather, it's the struggles in the company's core business, which he notes has deteriorated in the year since Yahoo's last annual meeting.
Jackson is expecting an even higher level of outrage this year vs. 2007, when three directors received more than 30% "against" votes, precipitating the end of Terry Semel's reign as CEO.
