Who Is Tops in Business News?

Here are the recent numbers that who which business media sites are doing the best in the new online and mobile world we live in.

Read the full Forbes post.

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Eric Jackson & Rob Curran of the Wall Street Journal discuss Shareholder Activism and the Web

I recently chatted with Rob Curran of the Wall Street Journal about "Shareholder Empowerment" using the web. I talk about my 2007 Yahoo! campaign, fighting Terry Semel, and what other smaller investors should think about if they're considering launching their own activist campaign to unlock shareholder value.

The audio interview is linked to here.

The original WSJ article is here.

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Activists Must Adjust Their Aim

HEARD ON THE STREET

APRIL 27, 2009

By GREGORY ZUCKERMAN, The Wall Street Journal

It's hard to scare a target when you are on the run yourself. But that is the awkward position in which activist investors find themselves.

Activist funds lost almost 10% in the first two months of this year, after falling almost 31% last year, according to Hedge Fund Research. That's worse than other hedge funds and in line with the overall market, suggesting that many are simply long-only investors who take concentrated positions in single stocks.

Meanwhile, many of the largest activists are dealing with unhappy investors who are fleeing their hedge funds. A focused fund started by William Ackman succeeded in getting Target to buy back shares, among other things. But Target has resisted some of his other suggestions. And amid the market downturn, Mr. Ackman's Target fund has lost more than 50% since its launch.

Despite such setbacks, activists might again be trying to flex their muscles, pumped up by gains of 9.3% in March. Carl Icahn has been pushing top executives at Amylin Pharmaceuticals to trim waste and not resist any possible sale. Smaller hedge funds such as Ironfire Capital are preparing to launch campaigns, according to people familiar with the matter.

The question is what playbook will work in today's environment. Activists have spent much of the past few years pushing companies to take on more debt and pay out cash to shareholders. It turns out that many of the companies were correct to try to conserve cash for a rainy day, given the tsunami in the markets and economy that subsequently resulted. Companies should easily shrug off pressure to return cash right now.

Another activist favorite, pressuring companies to break up or sell themselves, also could be a challenge. Financing markets remain in disarray and valuations are distressed in many cases.

And such attempts have included notable failures. Investors jumped into Yahoo stock when Mr. Icahn last year pushed the company to sell to Microsoft, figuring he could bridge the gap between the two sides. But they still are dragging their feet, and Yahoo is down more than 40% since he got involved.

A more fruitful area could be on forcing cost cuts. Activists have often targeted entrenched and overpaid managers they believe are looking after themselves rather than shareholders. With many executives receiving generous compensation packages, even as their companies struggle, there could be plenty fodder for activists. A range of academic research suggests that hedge-fund activists have had a positive impact in areas such as reining in executive pay and perks.

Research also shows that activists can have a positive impact on long-term share prices, although some studies cover bull-market periods when companies could be successfully prodded to sell themselves or certain assets and pile on debt to boost payouts. In today's leaner times, activists have their work cut out demonstrating that they aren't a spent force.

Write to Gregory Zuckerman at gregory.zuckerman@wsj.com

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WSJ: Icahn Enters Microsoft-Yahoo Fray

By GREGORY ZUCKERMAN and KEVIN J. DELANEY
May 13, 2008 5:10 p.m.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has amassed a stake in Yahoo Inc. and is leaning toward launching a proxy contest to unseat at least part of Yahoo's board, according to one person familiar with the situation.

Mr. Icahn bought roughly 50 million Yahoo shares since Microsoft Corp. on May 3 withdrew its unsolicited offer to buy Yahoo, the person said. Mr. Icahn is expected to decide Wednesday whether to launch a proxy contest -- a Yahoo deadline for board nominations looms Thursday -- and he currently has no assurances from Microsoft it would reconsider a Yahoo purchase. The person said that Mr. Icahn was unsure whether he would nominate a full or partial slate of candidates to try to replace Yahoo's 10-person board. A shareholder vote on any such nominees would take place at Yahoo's annual shareholder meeting on July 3.


Shares in Yahoo climbed more than 5% to $26.56 in 4 p.m. Nasdaq Market trading Tuesday following a CNBC report that Mr. Icahn was weighing such an effort. A spokeswoman for Mr. Icahn declined to comment.

Other activist hedge-fund managers also are eyeing Yahoo and deciding whether to become involved in any fight. Scott Galloway, founder of investment firm Firebrand Partners LLC, and his firm are examining the situation and may get involved, according to people close to the matter. Mr. Galloway, who waged an activist campaign against New York Times Co. that recently netted him a board seat, declined to comment. A person familiar with the matter said that he and Mr. Icahn were not currently coordinating their efforts.

One reason for such an activist effort may be to rekindle negotiations to sell Yahoo to Microsoft at a premium to its current share price. The earlier talks broke down May 3 with Microsoft citing a divide on price. Since then, some Yahoo shareholders have tried to pressure Yahoo's board to return to Microsoft and try to sell the company. Some large Yahoo shareholders have contacted Mr. Icahn in recent days, urging him to become involved, said one of the people familiar with the matter.

But, for now at least, Microsoft has moved on and is not considering such a deal, said people familiar with the matter. A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment other than to cite Chief Executive Steve Ballmer's May 3 letter withdrawing Microsoft's offer as the company's current stance.

One person close to Yahoo said that the company is not overly worried about a proxy challenge because it believes investors who wouldn't support such a campaign hold a significant enough share of its capital. Yahoo co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo together own roughly 10% of Yahoo. A Yahoo spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment.

Separately, activist investor Eric Jackson said he likely won't nominate any candidates for Yahoo's board after trying to muster financial support from Yahoo shareholders for such an effort. "It's 90% certain I'm not going to," said Mr. Jackson, who holds 96 Yahoo shares. "It's cost prohibitive for me to proceed on my own." Mr. Jackson plans to proceed with his campaign to get shareholders to withhold their votes from Yahoo's current directors at the next annual meeting in protest. "This breakdown in talks with Microsoft is just the latest mistake--or poor outcome--for shareholders," he added.

--Marissa Marr contributed to this article.

Write to Gregory Zuckerman at gregory.zuckerman@wsj.com and Kevin J. Delaney at kevin.delaney@wsj.com

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Who Lit a Candle on a Slice of Peanut Butter and Toast?

Did anyone at the Yahoo!-plex on First Avenue celebrate the recent one-year anniversary of Brad Garlinghouse's (in)famous Peanut Butter Manifesto leaked to Kevin Delaney?

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