Take a look at this man. If he has his way, he will end up shaping the destiny of two companies with combined worth in excess of several hundred billions of dollars. Billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn is all set to lock horns with Yahoo executive board and wants to get rid of them. This man is obviously unhappy with the way things have turned out for Yahoo - Microsoft merger and is ready to plyay hardball now.
In plain speak, Carl thinks the internet company totally botched it.
And just how does he plan to bring the change. In an open letter, the billionaire investor has claimed that he has acquired 59 million shares of Yahoo, sounds like a big number but its only 4% of Yahoo’s market capitalization - and has teamed up with other investors to stand for election against the current board.
Carl voiced it in clear terms that MS bid at that rate was the best Yahoo could have ever gotten and they should have thought of the shareholders before anything else. The bid represented a 72% premium over Yahoo’s closing price on the day before initial MS offer.
The investor is now seeking clearance to buy as much as 7% worth of Yahoo shares.
“I and many of your shareholders strongly believe that a combination between Yahoo and Microsoft would form a dynamic company and more importantly would be a force strong enough to compete with Google on the Internet.”
Carl also added that he has been getting numerous requests from other shareholders to lead the fight to attempt to remove the current board and to establish the new board which would negotiate a successful merger with MS.
Personally speaking, I am not a big fan of MS or have any special love for them, but I think a combination of Yahoo and MS is the only thing on the face of this earth that can raise the bar of competition with the 800 lb internet advertising and search gorilla that Google has become.
Competition is always good for the consumers.
