Shareholders have sent out proposals to Yahoo’s California headquarters to pressure the board into setting a more precise direction for the company.
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Yahoo Inc. offers up to 16 weeks of paid maternity leave.
Yahoo has warned the spin-off could take more than a year to complete, a time frame that Canyon Capital called “simply unacceptable” after Yahoo spent most of 2015 preparing to hive off its $31bn stake in China’s Alibaba in an attempt to avoid paying taxes on the gains from its initial investment of $1bn.
Although Mayer had promised that Yahoo will provide details on the new reverse spin-off at the company’s upcoming fourth quarter financial meeting, Canyon Capital said Yahoo’s current failure to provide “any clear details in terms of analysis, process or timing” was concerning. The investor wrote that Yahoo needs to start selling parts of its business off now or risk a further decline in the worth of the company.
But Eric Jackson, a managing director at SpringOwl, believes Yahoo is still fixable. Mayer gave birth to twin girls Thursday, the day after unveiling plans to hatch a new company to control Yahoo’s Internet business.
Jackson sent a 99-page presentation to Yahoo’s board outlining his case for why Yahoo should drop Mayer as CEO and find new management.
The investor is calling for new management, led by an executive with strength in operations, and suggesting that a strategic partner buy a stake in Yahoo through a private investment in public equity, or PIPE, deal and act as an adviser on the tax issues tied to its stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan. The amount of money that Yahoo would get if it sells now would be less than if its business improves, Jackson said, adding his firm would consider a proxy battle.
A hedge fund investor in Yahoo wants boss Marissa Mayer fired and 9,000 of the firm’s 12,000 staff laid off.
The fund does not have a major shareholding in the company, but he has met several of the company’s largest investors to build support for his plan.
SpringOwl says its plan – which also includes focusing on what it says are Yahoo’s strengths, such as finance and sports – could “create an extra $30/share in value above a Starboard sell it now outcome”.
In its December 11 letter to Yahoo’s board, Canyon Capital indicated that Ms Mayer already has been given too much time to turn things around. The company’s “inaction to date has been startling”, the letter stated.
Yahoo’s board said last week that it is not actively exploring a sale.
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Last week, Yahoo announced a new plan for separating its $32 billion Alibaba stake from Yahoo’s other businesses amid concerns that the Alibaba stake has been overshadowing the value of Yahoo’s other businesses for years.
