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As details of how Yahoo had drawn plans to complicate Microsoft's acquisition bid months before the latter made its offer public were revealed, the Internet giant postponed a crucial sharholders meeting which will decide the fate of its co-founder CEO Jerry Yang.
The rescheduling was prompted as billionaire investor Carl Icahn upped his ante against Yang in view of the revelations that came on Monday when a Delaware judge unsealed court documents in a lawsuit filed by shareholders.
The annual shareholders meeting originally slated for July 3, has been rescheduled for the third time on August 1.
The meeting will see shareholders voting on whether to re-elect Yahoo's current directors or replace them with Icahn-proposed alternate slate of directors.
Icahn, angered by Yahoo's rejection of Microsoft acquisition offer and the latest revelations, indicated in an interview to The Wall street Journal that he planned to wrest control of the board and return the company to the bargaining table.
Although the Yahoo board of directors includes Yang, Icahn had not in the past spoken about removing him as the CEO.
On Monday, a Delaware judge unsealed court documents that revealed how Yahoo schemed well in advance to make the acquisition more expensive for the Microsoft.
The details tumbled out of previously sealed records obtained as part of a shareholder lawsuit alleging Yahoo board of improperly resisting Microsoft's acquisition bid.
The lawsuit alleges that CEO Yang was so determined to keep Yahoo independent that he devised a beefed up employee severance plan that would have significantly increased the cost of acquisition.
The severance plan, which would have come into play in the event of a qualifying event such as an acquisition by Microsoft, would have added between $500 million to $2.4 billion in acquisition costs to Microsoft.
Reacting to the details, Icahn said in the interview, "I'm very cynical about many of the boards and CEOs in this country, but even I am amazed at the lengths that Jerry Yang and the board went to entrench themselves in this situation."
"How can Yahoo keep saying they're willing to negotiate and sell the company on the one hand, while at the same time they're completely sabotaging the process without telling anyone?", he added.
Reacting to the shareholders' allegations, Yahoo said the severance plan was consistent with the company's effort to preserve its ability to recruit and retain good employees.
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