LOS ANGELES, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Internet giant Yahoo's shareholders met in San Jose, near San Francisco for its annual meeting on Friday to elect a new board of directors. Despite complaints about the management's much-criticized rejection of Microsoft' 47.5-billion-dollar takeover bid, Yahoo's board emerged largely unscathed.
As the meeting went on, Yahoo executives faced about 200 unhappy shareholders who vented their anger, prompting organizers to put off the meeting as long as possible in anticipation of a showdown.
Eric Jackson, an activist representing a group of 150 shareholders, asked why the board members who had failed to gain the support of one out of three shareholders last year continued to serve on the board.
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People walk past Yahoo! offices in Santa Monica, California, May 19, 2008. |
Shareholder Anthony Mezzapelle complained how little Yahoo makes for each search on its Web sites compared to Google. He also said Yahoo's productivity per employee is half of Google's and its earnings per employees are one-fifth that of Google. This indicates to me that there are a lot of problems in house, Mezzapelle said.
Yahoo was trading as low as 19.53 dollars on Friday, and it was all over but the scolding. The company's stock price has fallen by31 percent since Microsoft withdrew a takeover offer of 33 dollars per share in early May.
But Yahoo's board of directors ran for re-election unopposed thanks to last month's agreement reached between Yahoo's management and dissident shareholder Carl Icahn, who had been campaigning to oust the company's entire board for spurning the Microsoft bid.
Shareholders could withhold their votes, but they could not vote for a change in leadership.
In Friday's balloting, Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang, one of the chief negotiators with Microsoft on the takeover bid, was approved by 85 percent of the votes cast. Only two directors - Chairman Roy Bostock and Arthur Kern - were opposed on ballots representing at least 20 percent of Yahoo shares.
Under Yahoo-Icahn agreement, Icahn will join the company's board next week, but he can't criticize his fellow directors. Two of Icahn-endorsed candidates will fill the seats as well.
Yang, who co-founded Yahoo 14 years ago, assured shareholders his management team is pursuing a turnaround plan in a very deliberate and forceful manner. Yang has promised to increase Yahoo's net revenue by at least 25 percent in each of the next two years.