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Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock has a letter from corporate raider Carl Icahn in his inbox. It's more than 3,000 words long. For a version that Bostock and you can read before Icahn completes his raid, see below.

The board of directors of Yahoo has acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders and Microsoft. Microsoft's bid of $33 per share is a superior to Yahoo's prospects. It is irresponsible to hide behind management's overly optimistic financial forecasts. It is unconscionable that you have not allowed your shareholders to choose to accept an offer that represented a 72 percent premium. Yahoo and Microsoft would compete with Google. Shareholders asked me to remove the current board and negotiate a merger with Microsoft. I therefore purchased approximately 59 million shares, formed a 10-person slate, sought antitrust clearance to acquire $2.5 billion worth of Yahoo. Heed your shareholders and negotiate a merger with Microsoft.

And now, the biographies of Icahn's board slate in 100 words:

  • Lucian A. Bebchuk is Professor at Harvard Law School.
  • Frank J. Biondi, Jr served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Viacom, Inc.
  • John H. Chapple [is] President of a privately-owned equity firm.
  • Mark Cuban, owner of the [Dallas Mavericks] National Basketball Association franchise, cofounded HDNet and Broadcast.com.
  • Adam Dell is the Managing General Partner of Impact Venture Partners.
  • Carl C. Icahn.
  • Keith A. Meister, of Icahn Enterprises G.P. Inc. and Icahn Capital LP.
  • Edward H. Meyer serves as Chairman, CEO of an investment management company.
  • Brian S. Posner is a private investor.
  • Robert Shaye is Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of New Line Cinema.