With the proxy fight officially initiated, Carl Icahn attached his nominees for Yahoo’s board to his letter to Roy Bostock. The full list of candidates, which mix former executives like Mark Cuban (Broadcast.com and HD Net) , John Chapple (Nextel) and Frank Biondi (Viacom) along with a number of professional investors is reprinted below along with biographies for each candidate.
Looks like the story to watch is quickly becoming the story of the day. Early rumors of Carl Icahn buying shares of Yahoo stock and gearing up for a proxy fight are now being supported by widespread reports that cite “sources familiar” or “involved in the matter.” From Reuters to the WSJ, and all across the blogosphere of financial news, the news rooms and pundits are buzzing.
The reports for now provide the following set of facts (or suspected facts):
•Icahn is preparing to nominate a slate of 10, possibly 12, directors by Thursday’s deadline.
•One of the nominees is expected to be former Viacom CEO (1987 to 1996), and past Icahn compatriot, Frank Biondi.
•Icahn is proceeding with his strategy without any assurances from Microsoft that they’ll revisit merger discussions in a friendly deal if an Icahn controlled board initiates it.
•DF King has been retained to work on proxy solicitation, or prepare accordingly, should a proxy fight begin.
•Icahn is holding more than $1b of Yahoo stock. Rough estimates are that he has at least 50million shares.
THE ICAHN ROADMAP: WHERE ARE WE HEADED?
Views can be deceptive. At first glance, the shareholdings and press leaks (which may be as engineered as the share purchases) have all the makings of a straightforward corporate raid. Icahn buys shares, rallies support among institutional investors privately, builds buzz in the press to add additional support, then uses the consortium to replace the board and sell out. Click to Read More
With a stock price down to the mid 20s and Microsoft saying they’ve “been there, done that” and aren’t coming back, there are more than a few Yahoo shareholders second guessing whether Yahoo management overplayed their hand. They’re wondering if holding out was a mistake. For billionaire investor Carl Icahn, their mistake may be his opportunity.
Reports are circulating that Icahn has bought as much as 50million shares of Yahoo stock in the past week, an amount equal to about 3.5% of the company. There are rumors he’s buying more too. CNBC, in fact, reported Tuesday that Icahn may be gearing up for a proxy fight aimed at seating a new board and resuscitating Microsoft’s now scuttled takeover bid.
Yesterday’s rumor is today’s fact. It’s now official: HBO programming will air on Apple’s iTunes under a variable pricing model. Taking advantage of routine “iTunes Tuesday” updates, the Time Warner network and Apple confirmed the suspicions.
Effective immediately, iTunes will host HBO programming. Breaking tradition, the shows will cost either $1.99 or $2.99 per episode. Current programming from other outlets is currently priced at just $1.99. Most of the shows offered (Soprano’s, Deadwood) do robust DVD sales and part of the justification for flexible pricing seems to be to reduce the potential for channel conflict between the two different distribution methods. At $2.99, the increased price won’t erase the “digital discount” but it will make price differentials between DVD buys and Digital Downloads less dramatic.
The as yet still unscheduled premiere of iPhone 2.0 is getting closer and the frenzy is building. With it, the rumors and speculation are picking up pace. Two new iPhone whispers and one iTunes story have been passing down the AppleVine to start this week.
1. iPhone 3G Debut Date
Throughout April, iPhone product shortages fueled speculation Apple was thinning inventory in anticipation of the next iPhone product. For the most part, the consensus was this channel inventory adjustments would build through June. At that point, likely at Apple’s developer conference, the iPhone 3G would be introduced. Occasionally, a whisper here or a rumor there has suggested an earlier (or later) delivery date could be the D (delivery) -Day too.
This weekend, news reports that Apple was no longer taking iPhone orders at their online US and UK stores brought the whispers of a possible day in May delivery Click to Read More
There are a handful of surefire ways to know you’ve become a pop culture (or geek culture star): a major magazine cover shoot, being spoofed in a movie or TV show, or even playing yourself in a commercial. Computer programmer Shawn Fanning can check all three off the list. From jokes that he stole the concept for the original Napster in 2003’s The Italian Job to a recent VW commercial, he’s had it all.
What he hasn’t had is an entrepreneurial home run; a company that’s succeeded. The original Napster file sharing service shifted the course of the music industry but as a business it wilted in the legal crosshairs of the music world. Fanning’s follow up project Snocap was hyped to be a sophomore step up with its business to business music services. That too, however, fell victim to tough times; a casualty of the antiquated DRM encryption environment that enveloped digital music sales. Snocap sold out to iMeem officially in a fire sale last month. The deal was reported back in February.
For all the efforts, the music industry just wasn’t proving a treasure trove for Fanning. In his third startup, he shifted to gaming and now it looks like the adjustment may finally get him some entrepreneurial credit to go with his pop culture status.
There have been a lot of evolutionary changes in how people use the Internet and computing technology but when it comes to direct forms of human interaction, things have moved slowly. Despite advances in touch screens and voice automation we still rely principally on the decades old technology of keyboards and mice. We still do most of our web interaction through browsers. Despite the vast increases in processing power when it comes to machine interaction, we’ve only moved in small steps.
The lack of innovation isn’t because existing technologies were perfect, or without need of improvement. It’s just that technology changes faster than peoples habits. When it comes to communication, we move slowly. The QWERTY keyboard, after all, was invented by Christopher Sholes in 1874. Click to Read More
