Yahoo appointed three new independent directors as it nears a proxy fight with Daniel Loeb an activist investor. The three new directors are American Express’ chief marketing officer John D. Hayes, Peter Liquori, Discovery Communications former COO and Thomas J. McInerney, the retiring CFO of Inter ActiveCorp/IAC. The three will start as directors as of April 5.
The announcement by Yahoo comes at a time when Third Point the hedge fund of Loeb’s has criticized the company’s strategy. The fund owns 5.8% of Yahoo stock and has launched a push to have four directors on the company board. Yahoo said the board offered to have one of the four nominees Third Point wants, Harry Wilson, plus a second who was mutually acceptable to both Third Point and Yahoo to become a part of the board in order to prevent a proxy fight.
The proposal was rejected by Loeb, who is also seeking a seat for himself on the board. While Third Point’s ideas still interest Yahoo board members, the company feels appointing Loeb is not in the company’s best interest.
Third Point, through Loeb, has accused the company of not taking into consideration its input and described Yahoo’s current board as in need of media strategies and restructuring capabilities.
