As Yahoo continues to urge its shareholders to support them in the coming annual meeting and to prevent Icahn from influencing their decision, here comes Legg Mason Capital Management, one of Yahoo’s biggest investor pledging their support for the current board.
Legg Mason Capital Management, on behalf of its clients, is the beneficial owner of approximately 60.7 million shares of Yahoo!, representing 4.4% of the outstanding shares of the company.
Yahoo is in a desperate situation. Just before this announcement from Legg Mason’s Chairmain and CIO Bill Miller, Yahoo even went to the extent of using its main portal to reach as much Yahoo investors as possible.
Right smack in the center of the Yahoo.com is a campaign box that says, “This could be the most important election before November”, which in all honesty was done in a bit of distaste. (But it’s their web site, so who am I to say what should be in there and what should be not?) The link goes to a page outlining why the Icahn slate is not for the best interest of Yahoo. Distasteful and yet clever move on the part of Yahoo.
Whether this campaign would be enough to get the support that Yahoo needed from its other investors and stakeholders remain to be seen in the coming days. But with Legg Mason supporting them, one more pledge of support from even the not so big investor may give the current Yahoo Board an extended stay in the Yahoo slate. But for how long, that’s something that Mr. Yang and company may want to ask themselves.
