The Yahoo shareholder meeting is going on right now, but already not everything is going according to plan. Yahoo was able to avoid a showdown today with activist investor Carl Icahn by agreeing to open up three board seats. Icahn is taking one, and the board will vote for the other two members. Former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller was added to the list of candidates at the request of Yahoo, and was considered a shoo-in for one of the two other available seats. Not anymore.
At the 11th hour last night, Time Warner decided to object to Miller’s appointment to the board, according to three sources, including a former AOL executive close to Miller. Without Time Warner’s blessing, Miller cannot serve on Yahoo’s board since he is still under a non-compete agreement with AOL.
Why Time Warner would decide to do this is unclear. Before Yahoo and Carl Icahn publicly disclosed Miler’s name as an addition to the slate of people Yahoo’s board will choose from to fill the extra seats, Time Warner gave the green light to Miller’s inclusion. Now the strategy has changed, and last night Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes reneged on his earlier approval in a phone call to Miller. It gave no reason for the about-face. (Former Viacom CEO Frank Biondi is now a favorite to take one of the two available board seats).
When Jerry Yang found out about this he was “fucking livid,” says a source. Miller was someone Yang felt he could work with on the board and lean on for advice, given Miller’s past experience running AOL. Miller was someone Icahn was happy with as well.
So Time Warner just pissed off one of two possible buyers for AOL. Time Warner management has been obsessed with trying to sell off AOL, and the only two realistic buyers are Yahoo and Microsoft. “It is the entire AOL strategy,” says the former AOL executive. Now,Time Warner is angering a potential bidder for AOL, and effectively giving Microsoft more leverage to give a lowball offer. Institutional shareholders, many of whom own large chunks of both Yahoo and Time Warner, won’t be too happy about that.
“If you are the SS Titanic of AOL, you have to be friends with everybody,” says the befuddled former AOL exec. What is ironic is that if anyone could have made a Yahoo-AOL deal work it would have been Miller.
So does Time Warner think that it can make Yahoo less attractive to Microsoft, and AOL more attractive, by keeping Miller off the board? Or can Jeff Bewkes simply not stand the thought of Miller (whom he removed as CEO of AOL in favor of his own guy) becoming the CEO of a merged Yahoo-AOL down the road? That might make Bewkes’ earlier decision look stupid, especially given AOL’s poor performance since the switch. In business, it’s always personal.
What a friendly way to say go fish AOL
wow…
yahoo just seems to be starcrossed.
what else can go wrong?
“So does Time Warner think that it can make Yahoo less attractive to Microsoft, and AOL more attractive, by keeping Miller off the board? Or can Jeff Bewkes simply not stand the thought of Miller (whom he removed as CEO of AOL in favor of his own guy) becoming the CEO of a merged Yahoo-AOL down the road? That might make Bewkes’ earlier decision look stupid, especially given AOL’s poor performance since the switch. In business, it’s always personal.”
Eric you are a genius.
I think I have tuned out on Yahoo news…
no doubt personal
Time out. It’s “shoo-in”, kiddies, not “shoe-in.” Dictionary? Copy editor! Front and center.
Thanks, Pops. You’re my copy editor.
I always thought it meant “shoe in” the door. Will change.
This had to orchestrated by M$. I can’t believe you didn’t come to this conclusion. This lets Yahoo know who really is in charge.
Quite obviously, it’s orchestrated by the Knight’s Templar.
Yahoo are current guardians of the Holy Grail.
Lets raise the journalistic bar a bit. Just cause a source used an expletive does not mean you need write it. Otherwise interesting post.
I wonder if the noncompete agreement even enforceable. In California, noncompete agreements are typically not legally unless written as part of the sale of business where the purchaser is buying good will of an ongoing business and wishes to keep the seller form working for a competitor for a period of time.
Hey, anyone stupid enough to work for a fucking jerk like Jeff Pukes deserves to be subject to Machevilian tricks. It’s in their blood, these New York shmendriks. Keep them out of the Valley along with all their noodling, scraping lawyers.
Miller sure resembles Al Gore. Which one of them invented the internet again?
Hey Jeff, quit listening to Ron for advice on stuff like this. His perspective is that if he were in Jon’s shoes, he’d obsess every day how to “Get back” at those Time Warner bastards for getting rid of him. Guess what? Miller has said or done nothing that reflects negatively on his old shop. Give him credit for being a class act there. Just because Ron is small minded, doesn’t mean Jon is. You owe him a huge apology. Admit that you led Jerry and Jon down the primrose path of approval, yanked it at the absolute last minute, and give him permission to join the Yahoo board. You’re CEO, dammit! Act like one.
The only thing remarkable and an anomaly here is that Jerry the dork Yang could be so stupid as to never apparently get enough of this crowd of schmucks. Semel - Schmuck, Bewkes - Schmuck, Miller - Schmuck. I guess that’s what the picture is for, huh Schonfeld? You want to illustrate the three schmucks? What the hell is wrong with Yang. Did he completely miss out on a liberal arts education? Yang. Wake up. Your fascination is killing you.
Orange Mounds. You left out one of Yang’s fascinations.
Ron the schmeckle Burkle.
Maybe TW thought having Miller on Yahoo side would not be good for AOL if Yahoo were to acquire them. Miller has intimate knowledge of AOL’s operations to call BS on any pumped numbers generate by AOL to boost their value. Plus since Miller didn’t leave on best of terms so maybe he’d love a chance to stick it to’em.
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