The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Yahoo’s board will meet on Friday to discuss both the Microsoft offer and the potential News Corp. deal.
Be prepared for an “unnamed source” to leak key details of this meeting, but realize that this unnamed source will be reading from a script written by Yahoo’s p.r. firm and approved […]
The New York Times is reporting that Microsoft is in talks with News Corp. for a possible business combination with the MySpace business unit.
Yes, Microsoft wants to acquire everyone.
It’s a great maneuver to eliminate a possible white knight for Yahoo, increasing the chances of a Microsoft-Yahoo deal. And if consummated, the News Corp. deal would give Microsoft […]
When Aflac provided its shareholders this year with an advisory vote on executive pay, Aflac CEO Dan Amos became an instant hero, poster child, Greek God, etc. to shareholder rights activisits everywhere. Until he spoke with The Wall Street Journal.
In an editorial published yesterday, Amos squashes “say on pay” fever with this quote:
“Frankly, I don’t care what […]
On Monday, just one day before Morgan Stanley’s annual shareholder meeting, The Wall Street Journal printed a revealing article titled “Boards Give Up Taming Act“.
The article details how boards are less reluctant to fight dissident shareholders, often inviting these shareholders onto the board at an increasing rate.
The key insight offered is that the dissident shareholders have been promoting more […]
Almost lost in yesterday’s major media coverage of Motorola and Yahoo announcements was Morgan Stanley’s shareholder meeting today, where a campaign had been mounted by a union pension advisor, CtW Investment Group.
CNBC is reporting this morning that both the Vote No campaign and the Say on Pay campaign have failed. With 85% of the shareholder […]
In a quick response to Microsoft’s weekend letter, Yahoo responded loudly today with a letter criticizing Microsoft’s acquisition offer (valued today at roughly $29/share).
What does this rejection mean? It means that Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, co-signee of the letter, was NOT busy today negotiating a $36/share deal with News Corp. It means that Yang was NOT […]
One less proxy fight will be decided by shareholders in the 2008 proxy season.
Reuters is reporting that Motorola and legendary corporate raider Carl Icahn have reached an agreement to give two board seats to Icahn’s nominees.
Keith Meister, Icahn’s investment director, will be seated immediately on Motorola’s board, while investment banker William Hambrecht will be officially supported by Motorola in the upcoming shareholder […]
In a well-publicized letter to Yahoo’s board this weekend, Microsoft announced that it will continue its path toward a hostile proxy fight if Yahoo’s board continues its path in forestalling negotiations.
Sounds like Yahoo’s board has been too busy negotiating with suitors other than Microsoft.
The Wall Street Journal reports that talks between Yahoo and Time Warner “have heated up recently.” […]
Our friends at CorporateCounsel.net have highlighted recent data on e-proxy usage, indicating that the current system is failing to increase participation by retail shareholders. In fact, e-proxy is causing a decrease in participation.
“Retail vote goes down dramatically using e-proxy (based on 80 meeting results); number of retail accounts voting drops from 19.2% to 4.6% (over a 75% drop) and number of […]
Wattles Capital Management is getting some free p.r. today, having sent a letter to Circuity City’s board and then disseminating the letter via PRNewswire (to read the letter, click here).
No real news to report here, as Wattles merely reiterates its boilerplate position. Note to shareholders: if Wattles leads Circuit City with the same weak effort that Wattles is putting […]
