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Icahn proxy bid cited for delay

Once again, Yahoo found a way to put off its pursuers, this time pushing back their scheduled annual meeting by several weeks.

Really, we haven't seen this kind of evasion since Harrison Ford led Tommy Lee Jones around Chicago in 'The Fugitive'. The potential resolution to Yahoo's future regarding Microsoft's one-time takeover interest probably won't be known until the end of July.

A Bloomberg report said Yahoo switched its annual meeting date from July 3rd to the end of the month to give it more time to deal with the move by Carl Icahn to replace Yahoo's board. Yahoo filed an 8-K form with the SEC about this change; they have placed the onus on Icahn's proxy move for causing this change:

The Company filed its preliminary proxy materials on May 22, 2008 and is postponing the Company’s annual meeting until a date to be determined by the Board of Directors pending review and clearance of the Company’s proxy materials by the SEC. The record date for the annual meeting has been set as the close of business on June 3, 2008. The date for the annual meeting is currently expected to be around the end of July 2008.

The move, though legal, probably served to irritate the big investors who would like to see Yahoo nudged back into more substantive talks with Microsoft, instead of just discussions about Yahoo's search and contextual advertising businesses.

Shares of Yahoo waned for a couple of years until Microsoft stepped in at the end of January 2008 with a takeover offer. Yahoo objected, claiming it was worth more than the premium Microsoft offered to pay.

Negotiations with Microsoft ended when Steve Ballmer decided to pull out of the talks, as the two sides could not close a gap between Microsoft's $33 per share offer and Yahoo's $37 per share demand. Major Yahoo investors were left aghast at seeing their big payday evaporate, leading to a number of lawsuits as well as Icahn's takeover bid for Yahoo's board.