Reports: Carl Icahn considering attempt to oust Yahoo board

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn reportedly is snapping up Yahoo stock in preparation for a possible attempt to replace the Internet company's board after the directors turned down Microsoft's $47.5 billion takeover offer.

Icahn has bought as many as 50 million Yahoo shares, both CNBC and The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. That would give Icahn a 3.6 percent stake in the Internet pioneer.

Icahn is a ruthless takeover artist on whom (some say) the character of Gordon Gekko (of the '80's film Wall Street) was based. He specializes in arbitrage; TWA became his target because, in the wake of airline deregulation, its "whole" became worth less than the sum of it's parts. A big part of the "whole" was, IIRC, TWA's employee pension fund.

Ichan attempted a greenmail type hostile takover, and ended up running the airline, which (as I recall) he didn't really want to do.

Not long after this turn of events, TWA, which had existed for more than 50 years and was one of the most widely recognized American brands, filed for bankruptcy and ceased to exist. The somewhat ironically named Icahn came out smelling like a very wealthy rose.

I believe this is why a boot-shining offer from Mr. Icahn, if it were ever to be offered, would be rebuffed by Mr./Ms. peggybac.

My own humble analysis....we are about to watch the death of Yahoo....over the next twelve months. The entire “no” episode over Microsoft’s offer has been laid out by Carl Icahn....who now says that he sees the severance program as an “entrenchment device” that contributed to Microsoft to withdraw a $47.5 billion offer. Carl wants the pay plan and several members of the board at Yahoo terminated.

This program? It covered all 13,800 employees and if we believe Carl....it would have exposed Microsoft to more than $2 billion in severance payments had Microsoft accomplished its anticipated cuts.

Whats the image of Yahoo after the purchase? It now appears....compliments of Carl....that big M would have carved out the top 100 bosses of Yahoo immediately or within a couple of months. The various pieces of Yahoo would have been blended into Big M over the next year. Except the name and probably fifty percent of the current blend of Yahoo.....would have been noticed in two years.

So what did the head dudes of Yahoo decide on? They wanted everyone to get paid as they got fired. Carl’s attitude? Destruction of Yahoo period. Every employee will look at the Microsoft deal about to occur and simply pack and leave within three months after the deal is struck. Yahoo is going to dissolve away quickly as Microsoft steps in to find total chaos.

How many resumes of Yahoo employees are on the street tonight? I’d guess that 2,000 are on the street. By Sunday night....at least six thousand will be on the street. No one is going to stay. Its dead...its dying.

The top twenty brains of Yahoo? I’m guessing they are currently meeting with Steve Jobs and Apple. There will be a quiet period over the next twelve months as Yahoo starts to stumble and fall. Then Apple will announce that it is backing a search engine & site called “Core” (my humble guess)....and it will be noted that the twenty brains of original Yahoo....are working at Apple. They will assemble the old Yahoo......and fix the bugs....thus turning the Apple concept to the next level.

Carl Icahn will get his money....and watch Yahoo dissolve into a feeble mess. He doesn’t care. He is a player at creating a mess, picking up profit, and walking away. Carl doesn’t care. Carl is simply playing this as a game. Microsoft? They turn into a huge loser in two years.....having carved up Yahoo and basically gained little beyond the name. The bulk of the Yahoo force will be gone in six months.....with no true direction for the future.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.