Carl Icahn Gives His 2 Cents On The Microsoft-Yahoo! Deal

It was about a year ago that Carl Icahn was battling the Yahoo! Board to have several executives removed from the helm.  But Yahoo! quickly settled before the annual shareholder meeting and gave Carl Icahn three board seats.

As you may remember, Carl Icahn was highly proactive in pushing Microsoft to work out some sort of deal with Yahoo! if not a full buy out.  Icahn helped make it happen because Microsoft and Yahoo! did end up making a deal.

“I think it is an excellent deal, and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and her team did an excellent job under the circumstances,” stated Icahn in an interview with BusinessWeek. “I agree with [Microsoft CEO Steve] Ballmer that the deal benefits Yahoo in that Yahoo gets 88% of the search revenues under the agreement,”

Like Steve Ballmer, Icahn said that he was also surprised by Wall Street’s reaction to the deal.  Yahoo! lost about a $2.9 billion market cap and Microsoft gained about the same.

Icahn has a 5% stake in Yahoo!  Icahn added that Yahoo! cannot afford to continue competing against Google and Microsoft the way that they were operating.  “I believe that the partnership with Microsoft bodes very well for Yahoo’s long-term outlook and future,” added Icahn.

Related posts:

1. Icahn Supports Search Deal Between Yahoo And Microsoft
2. Icahn Says The Yahoo!-Google Deal Has “Merit”
3. Carl Icahn Buys Almost 7 Million Additional Shares In Yahoo!
4. Yahoo! Removes Icahn Banner From Homepage & Settles On A Deal
5. Carl Icahn Gets The Green Light From The FTC Regarding Large Yahoo! Stock Purchases