Starboard Sets Out to Remove Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO)’s Entire Board, ValueAct Further Trims Adobe Stake, Plus 2 Other Moves

Although there are no SEC filings yet related to our next topic of discussion, we decided to examine the activist campaign pursued by Jeffrey Smith’s Starboard Value LP against Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO). This morning, the activist hedge fund announced the nomination of a slate of nine candidates for election to the company’s Board of Directors at its upcoming annual meeting of stockholders, thus lunching a proxy fight to remove the entire Board of the struggling company. The battered digital media company has faced pressure from Starboard Value to sell its core Search and Display advertising businesses, but the company’s Board is still exploring strategic alternatives alongside plans to undergo a reverse spin-off. Starboard Value also sent an open letter to Yahoo! shareholders, saying that “There are reasons for shareholders to be highly concerned about the current strategic review process. Despite what appears to be strong interest from large strategic and financial buyers, as referenced in the media, nearly two months have gone by since Yahoo officially publicly announced its intention to pursue strategic alternatives for the Core Business, and it seems little progress has been made.” Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) quickly responded to Starboard’s announcement, saying that the Board’s Nominating and Governance Committee will review the proposed nominees. Mr. Smith’s activist firm owns 7.10 million shares of Yahoo! as of December 31. Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group had 11.46 million shares of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) in its portfolio at the end of 2015.

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