Yahoo Appoints Three New Board Directors; Third Point To Continue Proxy Contest

Yahoo Inc. announced Sunday that it has appointed three new independent directors following a failure to arrive at a settlement with Third Point LLC, its largest shareholder that owns about 5.15 percent of shares.

Former Fox Broadcasting Network chairman Peter Liguori, American Express Co chief marketing officer John Hayes and former chief financial officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp Thomas McInerney are the newest board members.

“We have appointed a capable and dynamic CEO who is driving the business towards its next era of success,” Roy Bostock, chairman of the board, said in the statement. Scott Thompson, former president of PayPal, had taken over as the new CEO in early January.

“We have reconstituted the board of directors with the right mix of experience and expertise to help Yahoo build upon its very strong assets and brand base to take advantage of the opportunities ahead,” Bostock added.

Meanwhile, Third Point has seriously criticized Yahoo's strategy and has also proposed the names of four alternate board directors. One of them is Daniel Loeb, founder of Third Point.

Subsequent to the announcement of the names of the new board members, Third Point said in a statement that it was moving forward with a proxy contest.

“Third Point offered several significant compromises to strike a deal and avoid a proxy contest,” Third Point stated. “Today, the board has shown yet again that they are unable to execute deals that are in the company’s best interests,” it added.