Icahn files replacement Yahoo board slate with SEC
Corporate raider Carl Icahn made his proxy fight for control of the Yahoo board official today, filing an alternative slate with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The slate includes nine of the ten names Icahn already put forward in a letter to Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock. Bob Shaye, former cochairman and co-CEO of the recently defunct New Line Cinema, is no longer on the list. The filing includes a letter from Icahn to Yahoo shareholders in which Icahn urges them to vote for his slate because "Steve" — as in Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer — told him it would grease the wheels for a deal: "If a new board consisting of my nominees were to be elected,Microsoft would be willing to enter into discussions regarding a transaction immediately." Icahn's proposed slate and its members brief bios, below.
- Lucian A. Bebchuk, professor, Harvard Law School
- Frank J. Biondi, Jr., former president and CEO of Viacom
- John H. Chapple, president of a privately-owned equity firm
- Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, cofounded HDNet and Broadcast.com, legendarily screwed over Yahoo in its purchase of Broadcast.com
- Adam Dell, managing general partner, Impact Venture Partners; brother, Michael
- Carl C. Icahn
- Keith A. Meister, Icahn crony
- Edward H. Meyer, chairman and CEO of an investment management company
- Brian S. Posner, private investor
(Photoillustration by Jackson West; photo of Icahn by AP/Mark Lennihan)