Yahoo investor Starboard forced coup Board – SPIEGEL ONLINE

The New York-based hedge fund Starboard Value Calls completely rebuild the Yahoo board. The US investor will nominate nine new directors as the financial company announced in an open letter. Under the proposed new members of the control and strategy committee is also Starboard CEO Jeffrey Smith.

About the plan first, the “Wall Street Journal” ( “WSJ”) had reported. With the confrontation between the major investor will obviously make his threats of the beginning of true. Back then announced Starboard Value on to revamp the Board if the company does not umsteuere fast enough. The hedge funds, which claims to have a share of 1.7 percent of Yahoo, had earlier called for the dismissal of Group boss Marissa Mayer.

The current Board lacked it, among others, guidance and perspective, criticized Starboard. In US companies, the Board has a greater role as a German supervisory boards. In addition to control functions, they also determine the strategy.

In the letter says, Board of Directors and management have continuously failed to implement its own promises. They should not be responsible for deciding whether Yahoo should remain an independent company. The deadline for nominations expires on Saturday. The election would be held according to the “WSJ” in a few months. A Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment.

Internet pioneer in the crisis

Yahoo located for some time in the crisis. The Internet pioneer has missed the boat in its core business and was run over by companies like Google and Facebook. Valuable investments owned by the Group in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan. Starboard and other investors had Yahoo prompted to separate from the core business and to focus on participation.

The 2012 impersonated Google Yahoo boss Mayer had previously tried to share in Alibaba to sell and distribute the proceeds to shareholders. For the Alibaba share was spun off into a separate company. But it remained unclear whether the deal can be implemented free of tax. The IRS did not guarantee it. Then Mayer backtracked. Apparently the Management Board shall since late last year options, the core business for sale. According to newspaper reports, there were already several interested parties.

In early February had Yahoo announced a workforce reduction of approximately 15 percent. Until the end of 2016, the company still wants about 9,000 employees and 1,000 external employees have. Thus, the workforce would be 42 percent less than in 2012.