http://www.wikio.com/search=activist shareholder Wikio - activist shareholder http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=63168137 Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has become one of the wealthiest Americans by successfully agitating companies he feels are poorly run. At 72 and worth roughly $14 billion and with a long string of investment home runs, you'd think his... Sun, 06 Jul 2008 06:00:50 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=63168137 2008-07-06T06:00:50Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=63051169 Investors in investment trusts look set to get a better price for selling their shares, after the government this week changed the rules on the disclosure of shareholders' positions in companies. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:02:00 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=63051169 2008-07-04T18:02:00Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62940675 Activist shareholder buys into auto parts supplier. 4 Jul 2008 4:21 AM Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:13:52 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62940675 2008-07-03T21:13:52Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62927382 Shareholder activism is taking off in France. But it has yet to achieve much WHEN Pardus Capital, an American activist fund, built a stake in Valeo, a French maker of car parts, its partners, Karim Samii and Behdad Alizadeh, frequently criticised the company's strategy. Local advisers told them to keep quiet. To get anywhere in France Inc, Pardus learnt, it needed to be polite. Shareholder activism in France is on the rise. Several big firms, including Saint- Gobain, a building-materials firm, and Carrefour, a retailer, have recently accepted shareholders onto their boards. But even for the most well-mannered and long-established investment funds, trying to influence corporate strategy is proving controversial and difficult. ... Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:02:45 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62927382 2008-07-03T13:02:45Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62865706 Yahoo leadership, trying to stave off a major clash at its annual meeting on August 1 with activist investor Carl Icahn, is contemplating offering him two board seats to assuage him, said several sources close to the situation. The problem? Icahn, who has put up his own new slate of directors to replace Yahoo's entire current board as part of a proxy fight, wants at least four, sources said. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:15:11 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62865706 2008-07-03T10:15:11Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62854337 Air Transport Service Group Inc.'s second-largest shareholder asked the air-freight company for a meeting after main customer DHL said it would end its contract. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:26:00 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62854337 2008-07-03T06:26:00Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62788757 Foreign investors frustrated by aloof management and poor returns are demanding change – and long-quiescent domestic shareholders are joining in Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:49:00 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62788757 2008-07-02T18:49:00Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62781103 CSX has earned some brickbats over the past week for its unusual shareholder meeting last Wednesday. The problem, critics contend, is that the large railroad operator is taking its sweet time to certify the results of the stockholder vote on its board of directors. Already, two activist hedge funds are claiming to have won four [...] Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:54:30 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62781103 2008-07-02T17:54:30Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62589099 Yahoo's management on Monday filed a presentation to shareholders aiming to cast doubt on Microsoft's sincerity in negotiating to buy the company, while defending its own actions. Yahoo's board of directors face a shareholder vote on Aug. 1 that could see their ouster if activist investor Carl Icahn has his way. The presentation offers Yahoo management's defense that their handling of the Microsoft negotiations was correct and that they should remain in their posts. The 32-page presentation details extensive talks with Microsoft that appeared to be moving forward until an abrupt end. In fact, the timeline shows what appear to be negotiating tactics aimed at buying Yahoo without further discussion of price. According to Yahoo's timeline, Microsoft and Yahoo representatives first met on Feb. 26 to begin negotiations. By March, the two companies were talking about regulatory issues, but Yahoo insists it asked for information that was never delivered, a sign the Internet company said shows that Microsoft was not serious about the negotiations. On April 5, Microsoft threatened a proxy battle and a reduced price for Yahoo if the agreement wasn't concluded in three weeks on Microsoft's terms. Soon after, Yahoo sent a letter to Microsoft that it was open to a deal but not at the proposed $31 per share. [ For the complete saga of Microsoft's unsuccessful bid to take over Yahoo , check out InfoWorld's special report ] Yahoo then revealed events in the days leading up to Microsoft pulling the plug on the deal. According to Yahoo, on May 2, "Microsoft orally states that it is willing to pay $33 per share" but the "Microsoft representative tells Yahoo representative not to come back at $38." A day later, Yahoo proposed $37 per share and "Microsoft withdraws its proposal hours after the meeting." The presentation also details why Microsoft's offer for Yahoo's search assets was not good for Yahoo, and defends management's decision to enter a deal with Google instead. Yahoo said it expects $250 million to $450 million in incremental operating cash flow during the first year of the Google agreement but no meaningful change in its operating cash flow or profitability in the Microsoft case, despite an offer of a $1 billion up-front cash payment by Microsoft. The Microsoft deal would put Yahoo at the mercy of Microsoft's ability to monetize search, which hasn't been competitive with Google, Yahoo said. Ultimately, the Microsoft deal would put Yahoo out of the search business. Microsoft could not immediately be reached for comment. Yahoo spent the remainder of the presentation defending management's record and strategy to turn Yahoo into a more highly profitable company. It also called Icahn's solution to re-enter talks with Microsoft "not the right answer." Yahoo then went on to sling mud at Icahn's investment record in a slide that shows 15 companies in which the investor has been involved with recently, most of them showing sharp declines in their share prices. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:17:06 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62589099 2008-07-01T11:17:06Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62571295 NEW YORK - Yahoo Inc. began pressing a case to major shareholders yesterday that the company's board and management deserve a chance to prove they made the right move when they rejected a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:01:00 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62571295 2008-07-01T07:01:00Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62561291 Yahoo began pressing a case to major shareholders Monday that its board and management deserve a chance to prove they made the right move... Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:00:28 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62561291 2008-07-01T05:00:28Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62597762 NEW YORK - Yahoo Inc. began pressing a case to major shareholders yesterday that its board and management deserve a chance to prove they made the right move when they rejected a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62597762 2008-07-01T04:00:00Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62549123 Yahoo questions how serious Microsoft was on deals Tue Jul 1, 2008 12:50am BST By Michele Gershberg and Eric Auchard NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo on Monday sought to rally shareholder support in the face of a proxy battle with billionaire Carl Icahn, saying the activist investor had an "ill-defined plan" for the future of the Internet company. Yahoo detailed its rationale for rejecting a $47.5 billion (24 billion pound) takeover offer by Microsoft questioning whether the software maker was ever serious about a full-scale merger in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "The record casts doubt on whether Microsoft was ever committed to a whole-company transaction," the filing states. Microsoft spokeswoman Jamie Moser fired back at Yahoo's allegations that the software giant was not earnest in pursuing the deal: "This is simply revisionist history," she said. Icahn is running a slate of directors to replace Yahoo's board and has called for the removal of Chief Executive Jerry Yang ahead of the company's annual shareholder meeting to be held in Silicon Valley on August 1. The activist shareholder has said the company should still offer to sell itself, though Microsoft has said it is no longer interested in a full buyout. "Icahn misrepresents the manner in which we negotiated with Microsoft," Yahoo said in an investor presentation it plans to make at the meeting. "Our board remains the best and most qualified group to maximize value for Yahoo stockholders." The company struck a similar tone in a letter to shareholders last week. Several major Yahoo investors said on Friday they are not sure whether they will side with Icahn in his proxy fight, including Legg Mason Capital Management, its third-largest institutional shareholder. Earlier this month, Yahoo rejected an alternate Microsoft proposal to buy its search business and a 16 percent stake in the company for $9 billion, plus annual advertising payments. "Microsoft proposed (a) last-minute 'hybrid' search-only structure, which does not benefit Yahoo financially or strategically and is based on flawed assumptions," Yahoo revealed in its filing on Monday. Instead Yahoo reached a nonexclusive pact with larger rival Google on search advertising. Yahoo says that deal will add as much as $450 million in operating cash flow within the first year and allow it to build other money-generating partnerships as well. Youssef Squali, an analyst with brokerage Jefferies & Co, sided with Yahoo in many of its arguments, but said the most likely outcome at the annual meeting was that investors would elect some of Icahn's board nominees to pressure the company. "We believe that shareholders may want to confer a handful of board seats to Icahn's slate in order to maintain the sense of urgency and accountability to the current board," he said. Yahoo shares fell 2.9 percent to $20.72. The stock is down sharply since Microsoft withdrew its offer to buy Yahoo or to strike a partial deal to invest in it and buy its Web search arm. It now trades less than $2 above the $19.18 level where it stood before Microsoft's original bid. The stock has fallen from a high near $30 in February -- when expectations were high that Yahoo would eventually accept Microsoft's January 31 offer of $31 per share in cash and stock. Microsoft withdrew its offer to buy the company in early May. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:45:36 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62549123 2008-07-01T03:45:36Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62545537 NEW YORK -- Yahoo Inc. began pressing a case to major shareholders Monday that its board and management deserve a chance to prove they made the right move when they rejected a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:15:00 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62545537 2008-07-01T03:15:00Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62542650 Sweden reacted with relief to the news that France Telecom had walked away from its bid for TeliaSonera - the offer had been seen as insultingly low and had been... Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:00:00 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62542650 2008-07-01T02:00:00Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62533545 Microsoft retorts that Yahoo's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is, "simply revisionist history." Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:40:18 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62533545 2008-06-30T23:40:18Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62538785 Microsoft retorts that Yahoo's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is, "simply revisionist history." Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:40:18 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62538785 2008-06-30T23:40:18Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62538921 NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc on Monday sought to rally shareholder support in the face of a proxy battle with billionaire Carl Icahn, saying the activist investor had an “ill-defined plan” for the future of the Internet company. Original post by Kevin Purdy Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:31:11 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62538921 2008-06-30T20:31:11Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62517341 NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc on Monday sought to rally shareholder support in the face of a proxy battle with billionaire Carl Icahn, saying the activist investor had an "ill-defined plan" for the future of the Internet company. Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:31:11 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62517341 2008-06-30T20:31:11Z http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62532232 NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc on Monday sought to rally shareholder support in the face of a proxy battle with billionaire Carl Icahn, saying the activist investor had an "ill-defined plan" for the future of the Internet company. Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:31:11 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/activist+shareholder?rinfoid=62532232 2008-06-30T20:31:11Z