TECHCRUNCH
ERICK SCHONFELD
09 JULY 08
The pitched battle between billionaire investor Carl Icahn and Yahoo for control of its board could hinge on whether Icahn can convince the company’s two largest institutional investors to vote for his alternate slate of directors. Those two investors are Gordon Crawford of Capital Research and Bill Miller of Legg Mason. As of May 7, they each controlled 16 percent and 6.7 percent of Yahoo stock, respectively. Icahn owns at least 4 percent. That’s more than a quarter of the voting shares between the three of them.
Crawford has reportedly threatened Yahoo
that he might throw his support behind Icahn, although he hasn’t done it yet. And that was before Icahn’s Gossip Girl pact with Steve Ballmer to jointly destroy Yahoo.
Did that pact make any difference to change the minds of Crawfod or Mason?