PROXY FIGHT

In the developing story that is the resignation of Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson, details have leaked about what the former CEO disclosed to the company's board of directors and several colleagues before the major announcement. According to The Wall Street Journal, Thompson revealed to his fellow Yahoo co-workers that he had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

Shares of AOL (NYSE: AOL), the No. 7 website, rose slightly after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter results and promised to pass on $1 billion in patent payments to shareholders.

Yahoo Inc. could be weeks away from selling between 15 percent and 25 percent of Alibaba Group's stock back to China's largest online commerce company, in a deal designed to eliminate complexities that had scuttled the parties' previous negotiations, a person familiar with the matter said.

Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX) said Wednesday that it decided not to extend beyond Friday a $6.8 billion hostile offer for gene sequencing specialist Illumina Inc. (Nasdaq: ILMN) after forecasting that the incumbents directors of Illumina will be re-elected.

Carl Icahn sued Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc to block enforcement of a bylaw that prevents the billionaire investor from launching a proxy fight that could lead to a sale of the maker of diabetes drugs.

Yahoo Inc., the No. 2 search engine, said it will fire 2,000 employees starting Wednesday and incur a charge as high as $145 million in the second quarter.

Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb has intensified his firm Third Point's proxy battle with Yahoo Inc, launching a website calling for a management shakeup at the online media company.

Shares of Yahoo were mixed Monday as it appeared a proxy fight looms for its board of directors.

Yahoo Inc has appointed three new independent directors as it prepares for a proxy fight with activist hedge fund investor Daniel Loeb.

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.

Activist investor Carl Icahn announced Thursday he was sweetening a takeover offer for independent petroleum refiner CVR Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVI), proposing to buy all outstanding shares of the company, in cash, at $30 a share.

New Yahoo CEO Scott Thomson faces a new nightmare: activist shareholder Third Point Capital has upped its holdings and launched a proxy battle to control the company.

More U.S. investors are targeting Canadian companies for proxy battles to boost the value of their stakes, encouraged by favorable laws and activist attacks on such blue chips as Canadian Pacific Railway and Research In Motion.

The Nikkei share average edged up on Tuesday after revenue at U.S. aluminum giant Alcoa beat expectations, while Olympus jumped 20 percent on reports it would remain listed, but the benchmark remained stuck below key resistance ahead of events in Europe.

The ousted British CEO of disgraced Olympus Corp, who blew the whistle on a $1.7 billion accounting fraud, dropped his bid to return to lead the medical device maker, blaming cozy ties between its management and big Japanese shareholders and saying the saga had taken its toll on his family.

Japanese prosecutors raided Olympus Corp units on Wednesday in connection with a huge accounting scandal that has threatened the existence of the 92-year-old maker of cameras and medical equipment, Japanese media reported.

Olympus Corp is preparing to issue about $1.28 billion (100 billion yen) in new shares, with Japanese high-tech stalwarts Sony and Fujifilm seen as possible buyers, as it tries to bolster its depleted finances, the Nikkei business daily reported Tuesday.

The whistleblower in Japan's Olympus Corp scandal, ex-CEO Michael Woodford, blasted Japanese shareholders Thursday for failing to stand up for him, amid signs that domestic and foreign investors are split over his campaign to be reinstated.

Japan's disgraced Olympus Corp ironed out its crooked accounts on Wednesday after a 13-year fraud, with a $1.1 billion dent in its balance sheet triggering speculation it will need to merge, sell assets or raise capital to repair its finances.

Japanese camera maker Olympus Corp beat the deadline for an automatic delisting after it reposted five years of earnings, which showed a $1.1 billion loss and ignited merger speculation.

Japan's disgraced Olympus Corp ironed out its crooked accounts on Wednesday, unwinding a 13-year fraud to reveal a $1.1 billion dent in its balance sheet and igniting speculation it would need to merge or sell assets to repair its finances.