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RiskMetrics recommends re-election of current Yahoo board

Updated at 2:16 p.m. PDT with comments from RiskMetrics' Patrick McGurn and Yahoo shareholder activist Eric Jackson.

Yahoo's current board of directors received an endorsement Thursday, when influential advisory service RiskMetrics Group recommended to its institutional investor clients to vote for all of Yahoo's directors at the upcoming annual shareholders meeting.

That recommendation runs counter to one issued the day before by Glass Lewis & Co., another institutional investor advisory service that makes recommendations to pension funds, mutual funds and asset management companies on how to vote on issues contained within companies' proxies. Glass Lewis, as … Read more

Yahoo president 'looking forward' to meeting Icahn

Yahoo President Sue Decker has taken the high road. In a CNBC interview that aired Wednesday, she said she looks forward to meeting investor activist Carl Icahn when he joins the company's board and would "love to get his advice."

Icahn, who reached a settlement with Yahoo earlier in the week, agreed to halt his proxy fight in exchange for being appointed to the board after the company's August 1 shareholders meeting. Yahoo also agreed to expand its board to 11 members and select two directors from a list that Icahn provided.

In the past two … Read more

Glass Lewis advises against re-electing 3 Yahoo directors

An advisory service to institutional investors issued a recommendation Wednesday that its clients vote against the re-election of three Yahoo directors.

Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock and directors Ron Burkle and Arthur Kern, all of whom sit on the compensation committee, received a thumbs down from influential institutional investor Glass Lewis & Co.

Glass Lewis, as well as RiskMetrics and Proxy Governance, issue recommendations to their clients on how to vote on proxy matters. These clients include mutual funds, pension funds, and asset management companies, which often hold large blocks of stock in various companies.

Glass Lewis is advising its clients … Read more

Yahoo declares the glass to be half full

Yahoo may have had some bumps in its second quarter, but it's not backing down from forecast for the rest of the year.

The Internet pioneer edged below analyst expectations for its second quarter for both revenue and earnings per share. Specifically, revenue excluding commissions increased 8 percent to $1.346 billion, shy of the $1.37 billion analysts had expected, and net income was 10 cents per share excluding various items, compared with 11 cents expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Nothing major went wrong, but the company's performance ended up on the low end of … Read more

Icahn recounts thought process behind settlement

While some folks were enjoying the summer sun and taking a vacation, investor activist Carl Icahn showed that the life of a shareholder activist can be 24-7.

In his blog post Tuesday, Icahn recounts how he spent last weekend hammering out a settlement agreement with Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock and CEO Jerry Yang, ending a contentious proxy battle between the parties.

Here's what Icahn had to say:

Proxy fights are very expensive and time-consuming. Unlike political elections, where change is often seen, it is unfortunately extremely difficult to take control of a company. By the end of last week, … Read more

Yahoo to tap Jonathan Miller for board seat and more?

With its bruising proxy battle over, Yahoo stands poised to add a few more deck chairs among its board of directors.

But will Yahoo founder and CEO Jerry Yang get cast overboard in the process in favor of former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller?

Yahoo's board, as part of its settlement agreement with investor activist Carl Icahn, will appoint Icahn to its board after its August 1 shareholders meeting and then will add two more directors to its 11-member board from a pool of candidates that Icahn has recommended. That pool includes Icahn's former slate of dissident directors and … Read more

Live blog: Yahoo discusses second quarter

Yahoo's financial results came in lower than analyst expectations for revenue and net income, but the stock is trading higher after hours. Here are highlights from what Chief Executive Jerry Yang, President Sue Decker, and Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen have to say about the second quarter during the company's conference call.

• To recap, here are Yahoo's numbers: Revenue excluding commissions increased 8 percent to $1.346 billion, shy of the $1.37 billion analysts had expected. Net income was 10 cents per share, excluding items, compared to 11 cents expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson … Read more

Yahoo earnings decline, miss estimates

Yahoo's earnings for its second quarter came in 1 cent lower than expectations, with net income declining 19 percent and revenue a bit light as well, but the company called the quarter "strong."

Using generally accepted accounting principles, the company's net income decreased 19 percent from $161 million in the year-earlier quarter to $131 million. But excluding various charges, the Internet pioneer reported earnings of 10 cents per share, less than the 11 cents per share that analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected.

Revenue increased 8 percent to $1.346 billion, excluding commissions called traffic acquisition … Read more

Will Yahoo ad business weather economic storm?

Some business sectors are definitely hurt by the current economic downturn, but major Internet sites dependent on advertising have been holding serious trouble at bay. Tuesday afternoon, investors should get a better idea whether the problems are hitting Yahoo.

The company is set to report results for its second quarter after stock market trading closes in the afternoon. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect earnings per share of 11 cents on revenue of $1.37 billion.

But there is pessimism in the air. "Comments last week from Valueclick and Microsoft indicate the broader economic downturn is affecting online ads, … Read more