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Aug.01

5:30 PM ET

Friday, 1 Aug 2008

Sorry, Icahn: Yahoo Shareholders Back Board

Posted By:Jim Goldman

Topics:Wireless Communications | Information Technology | Internet | Technology

Sectors:Software and Computer Services | Software | Telecommunications | Internet | Technology

Companies:Yahoo! Inc | Google Inc | Microsoft Corp

So after all the high drama, the passion, the verbal assaults, the hand-wringing, the concerns, worry and bitterness, Yahoo's shareholders have spoken. And they are resoundingly supporting the current board of directors.

And I mean resoundingly.

Chairman Roy Bostock saw 20.5 percent of Yahoo [YHOO Loading... () ] shareholders withhold support for him. That compares to 34 percent of shareholders last time around who decided not to support him.

Yahoo: CNBC Toolkit

Only board member Arthur Kern had less support of the nine members -- and not by much.

CEO Jerry Yang? Only 14.6 percent withheld support.

The results are stunning, if only because there has been so much discussion about this board putting its own interests ahead of shareholders. That it was shirking its fiduciary responsibility.

Instead, with today's results, Yahoo's board can become emboldened with a new mandate. And judging by the message I got from President Sue Decker last week, and the statements from Yang, Bostock and team today, it appears this board and this management team is ready to dig in for a fight.

Not against Microsoft's [MSFT Loading... () ] overtures. But against rival Google [GOOG Loading... () ]. And that's the fight that might matter most, to investors with a far longer time horizon than activist shareholder Carl Icahn.