Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is considering mounting a proxy campaign to replace Yahoo board members after the company failed to reach a deal to merge with Microsoft, a source close to the matter said last night.
The veteran investor has built up a stake in Yahoo in the last week and would run a slate in an effort to force the company back to the negotiating table with Microsoft, the source said, asking for anonymity because the decision to go ahead with the move has not yet been made.
It is unlikely that Icahn, a veteran of numerous proxy battles, will join with other hedge funds in the campaign, the source said. A decision to run a proxy slate this year must be made by tomorrow to qualify for the July 3rd annual meeting.
Still, other activist hedge fund managers may try to get involved, including Scott Galloway and his investment firm Firebrand Partners LLC, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday evening, citing people close to the matter.
Galloway won a seat on the New York Times Co board last month after hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners spent half a billion dollars to bankroll his campaign to try to force change at the newspaper publisher.
Galloway, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, declined to comment on the report. A Harbinger representative was not immediately available for comment on whether it would back Galloway if he were to wage a campaign against Yahoo.
Microsoft walked away from its Yahoo bid this month after the Internet company turned down its offer to raise it to $47.5 billion, or $33 per share. Yahoo demanded $37 per share.
A Yahoo spokesman declined to comment on Icahn's potential moves. Microsoft executives have said they were done with their pursuit of Yahoo, and one person close to Microsoft last night said that remained the case.
The size of the stake Icahn has built could not immediately be determined. He had no Yahoo shares as of early last week, the source said.
The
Wall Street Journalsaid Icahn has amassed a stake of roughly 50 million shares, or less than 4 per cent of the company's roughly 1.44 billion shares outstanding.