Yahoo selects Biondi, Chapple as new board members

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company selected Frank Biondi Jr. and John Chapple, former chief executives of Viacom Inc. and Nextel Partners, respectively, from a list of nine recommendations from Icahn.

Icahn, who has a long history of corporate rabble-rousing, had been pressing Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo to renew buyout talks. The New York-based financier acquired 5 percent of Yahoo's shares and spent two months spearheading a campaign to replace the Internet company's entire board after it rejected Microsoft's $47.5 billion takeover bid in May.

A showdown with Icahn had been set to culminate in a shareholder vote at Yahoo's Aug. 1 annual meeting, but a truce in late July headed it off.

As part of the deal, Icahn got a seat on the board, and Yahoo agreed to name two others backed by the activist investor. To make way for the new directors, Robert Kotick, chief executive of video game maker Activision Blizzard Inc., stepped down after five years on Yahoo's board.

None of the three new directors has led a Web company, but together Biondi and Chapple have high-profile content and technology credentials.

"Frank's extensive experience in the entertainment and media industries, combined with John's deep management experience in telecommunications, will provide valuable perspectives to our already diverse board," Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock said in a statement.

Biondi, 63, served as CEO of Viacom, the entertainment company that owns MTV and Paramount Pictures, among many other content brands, from 1987 to 1996. He led Universal Studios until 1998 and is currently senior managing director of WaterView Advisors, a private equity fund specializing in media and entertainment ventures.

Biondi has worked with Icahn in previous battles--known as proxy contests--to unseat corporate boards. During Icahn's unsuccessful challenge to Time Warner Inc.'s management in 2005 and 2006, the activist investor tapped Biondi as his intended replacement CEO.

Chapple, 55, was chief executive of Nextel Partners from 1998 to 2006, when the wireless company was acquired by Sprint Communications. He is currently president of Hawkeye Investments, a private equity firm that focuses on telecom ventures.