Yahoo and Stardboard reconciliation, CEO Mayer to keep "position"-Yahoo, Starboard-IT information
On April 28, Yahoo has reached a settlement with the Starboard Value, which will add four independent Board members nominated by the Starboard Value in order to facilitate the smooth sale of Yahoo's core assets.
Yahoo shareholder, hedge fund company Starboard Value in March this year Yahoo proxy fight. The company agents company OkapiPartners LLC want to replace the existing include CEO Marissa-Mayer (Marissa Maye) and Yahoo co-founder David Filo (David Filo), Board of Directors and nomination of 9 new directors. That is to say, StarboardValue plan was virtually replaced all members of Yahoo's directors , and hope that through this approach to oversee Yahoo's reorganization, separate, or asset sale.
It is reported that the four independent directors include Starboard CEO Jeff Smith (Jeff Smith), the former head of Deutsche Bank Securities technology industry Thor-Braham (TorBraham), the former DirecTV CEO Eddy-Teng Sitan (Eddy Hartenstein) and the former Chairman of Tessera Technologies Richard Hill (Richard Hill), And the appointment of Board of Directors decision will take effect immediately. Meanwhile, Smith will join Yahoo's Strategic Review Committee, which is responsible for the recent received bid for evaluation.
For Yahoo shareholders, the company with the Starboard of this settlement is good news, because it in fact paved the way for Yahoo to sell its core business. SunTrust (SunTrust) analyst Robert Parker (Robert Peck) said: "I believe that after hearing this news, Yahoo shareholders should feel a little relieved. ”
Seen from the current message, age group, the Google Alphabet of the parent company, Comcast, and United States Internet company IAC/InterActiveCorp has given up a bid for Yahoo, which makes United States telecom operator Verizon has become Yahoo's Internet assets, the most likely buyer.
However, BoardProspects.com co-founder Mark Rogers (Mark Rogers), Starboard CEO Jeff Smith's to join Yahoo's Board may mean the sale of the core assets of the company will not be so simple. As the industry's most experienced experts on mergers and acquisitions, Smith will obviously weigh all of Yahoo's current available option, "is to direct the sale of core assets or try to save it again Yahoo? ”。 Outside analysts believe that Smith's these new members bring to the Yahoo Board of Directors will soon express their opinions, and to help him make the final decision.
Analysts believe that the Yahoo Board of Directors the great earthquake was a huge victory for Starboard, because the company has always wants to shake-up the Yahoo Board of Directors, and that "the Board and management had failed to live up to their commitments, regardless of whether Yahoo maintain an independent corporate status, the current Board and management should no longer be the trust of shareholders."
"I'm happy to reach constructive agreement with Yahoo, and four additional independent directors. We are looking forward to start working at once, and the management of the company and other members of the Board of Directors to maximize shareholder's interests. "Smith said in a statement.
Impressive record
In fact, the Starboard pressure on Yahoo to request it by stripping the holds shares or cash for shareholders selling core assets have been for as long as a year. Also, Mayer started almost 4-year recovery plan has not achieved much success, which Starboard has publicly questioned his leadership abilities. On Wednesday local time, Mayer said in a statement: "this constructive solution will allow Yahoo's management and Board of Directors to focus on some very important goals. ”
It is worth mentioning that, in proxy battle has been Starboard maintained a high "win rate". As early as 2014, Starboard proxy fight a success and had dismissed all 12 directors of Darden Restaurants restaurant group. In 2013, the United States chip technology development TesseraTechnologies have also pressured the Starboard all 6 of the 10 seats on the Board.
Of course, the Starboard not undefeated. In 2011, AOL announced a $ 1.1 billion price to sell its patents, but soon after AOL announced a $ 1.056 billion to Microsoft sells 800 patents. At that time, thinks that this is not enough as an AOL shareholder StarboardValue changes to the company's poor operating status to United States regulators list of three nominees submitted to the AOL Board of Directors, but ultimately was not adopted.
Sources, Yahoo's core business at present is quoted in the auction at between us $ 4 billion to $ 8 billion . But given Yahoo's core business recently suffered pain and complications in the future, at present we do not know yet how many of these assets are the actual selling price will be u.s. dollars.
Up to now, the Starboard has yet to comment on this.
雅虎与Stardboard和解，CEO梅耶尔保住“帅位” - 雅虎,Starboard - IT资讯
4月28日消息，雅虎已经与Starboard Value达成和解协议，前者将新增四位由Starboard Value提名的独立董事成员以促成雅虎旗下核心资产的顺利出售。
雅虎股东、对冲基金公司Starboard Value曾在今年3月对雅虎发起代理权争夺战。该公司合作的代理委托公司OkapiPartners LLC希望替换现有包括CEO玛丽萨-梅耶尔（Marissa Maye）和雅虎联合创始人大卫-费罗（David Filo）在内的董事会，并提名9位新董事。这也就是说，StarboardValue当时的计划是几乎更换掉雅虎董事的全部成员，并希望通过这一方法来监督雅虎的重整、分离或资产出售计划。
据悉，这四位独立董事包括Starboard CEO杰夫-史密斯（Jeff Smith）、前德银证券科技产业负责人托尔-布雷厄姆（TorBraham）、前DirecTV CEO艾迪-哈滕斯坦（Eddy Hartenstein）以及前Tessera Technologies董事会主席理查德-希尔（Richard Hill），且这一董事任命决定将立刻生效。同时，史密斯还将加盟雅虎战略评审委员会，该委员会目前负责对近期收到的收购要约进行评估。
对于雅虎股东而言，该公司同Starboard的这一和解协议无疑是一个好消息，因为这事实上为雅虎出售旗下核心业务铺平了道路。太阳信托(SunTrust)分析师罗伯特-派克(Robert Peck)则表示：“我认为在听到这一消息后，雅虎股东们应该感到些许欣慰。”
从目前的消息看，时代集团、谷歌母公司Alphabet、康卡斯特、美国互联网公司IAC/InterActiveCorp都已经放弃了竞购雅虎，这也让美国电信运营商Verizon成为了雅虎互联网资产的最可能买主。
不过，BoardProspects.com联合创始人马克-罗杰斯（Mark Rogers）认为，Starboard CEO杰夫-史密斯此番加入雅虎董事会或许意味着该公司核心资产的出售进程不会那么简单。作为业内最具经验的收购和兼并专家，史密斯显然将会权衡雅虎目前的所有可用选项，比如“是要直接出售核心资产还是试图再拯救一次雅虎？”。外界分析认为，史密斯此次为雅虎董事会带来的这些新成员很快会各抒己见，并帮助他作出最后的决定。
分析认为，此次雅虎董事会的巨震对于Starboard来说是一场巨大的胜利，因为该公司一直以来都希望对雅虎董事会进行换血，并认为“原董事会和管理层未能履行他们的承诺，无论雅虎是否维持一个独立公司的状态，现任董事会和管理层都不应再得到股东的信任”。
“我很高兴能够同雅虎达成富有建设性的协议，并增加了四名独立董事。我们期待着立刻着手展开工作，并同公司管理层以及其他董事会成员密切合作来最大化股东的利益。”史密斯在一份声明中说道。
战绩斐然
事实上，Starboard向雅虎施压要求其通过剥离所持有阿里巴巴股份或者出售核心资产的方式来为股东套现已经有一年之久。而且，梅耶尔展开了近4年的复兴计划也没有取得多大成效，这也让Starboard曾在公开场合质疑了其领导能力。当地时间周三，梅耶尔发表声明称：“这一建设性的解决方案将让雅虎管理层和董事会得以专注部分非常重要的目标。”
值得一提的是，Starboard在代理权争夺战方面一直保持了较高的“胜率”。早在2014年，Starboard就曾通过代理权争夺战成功罢免了Darden Restaurants餐饮集团的全部12名董事。2013年，美国芯片技术开发商TesseraTechnologies也曾迫于压力给予了Starboard全部10个董事会席位中的6个。
当然，Starboard也并非未尝败绩。2011年，AOL曾宣布愿意以11亿美元价格出售其持有专利，但不久后AOL就宣布以10.56亿美元向微软出售800项专利。当时，作为AOL大股东的StarboardValue认为此举并不足够改变公司本身的运营不佳现状，因此向美国监管部门提交AOL董事会的三名被提名候选人名单，但最终却未获得通过。
消息人士透露，雅虎核心业务目前在竞拍中得到的报价在40亿美元至80亿美元之间。但是考虑到雅虎核心业务最近遭遇的阵痛以及未来的并发症，目前我们尚不清楚这些资产的实际售价将会是多少美元。
截至目前，Starboard方面尚未就此发表置评。