Two public pension funds from the city of Detroit plan to expand a complaint against Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and other members of Yahoo's board of directors, saying they failed to act in the best interest of shareholders in rejecting Microsoft's bid to buy Yahoo.
Their original lawsuits were filed separately on March 5 over what the pension funds deemed an unreasonable attempt by Yahoo's management team to thwart an acquisition by Microsoft that would have paid shareholders a 62 percent premium over Yahoo's pre-bid stock price. The lawsuits have been combined into a general class-action lawsuit, and lawyers representing the pension funds say they will seek damages for the loss of shareholder value allegedly caused by Yahoo management over the failure of the bid this weekend.
The actions taken by Yahoo's CEO this past weekend confirm that the company's board of directors pursued all manner of value-destructive third-party deals to fight off Microsoft's bid, lawyers representing the Police & Fire Retirement System of the City of Detroit and the General Retirement System of the City of Detroit said in a statement Monday.
Those actions constitute a breach of fiduciary duty, they allege.
Microsoft announced its original US$44.6 billion acquisition bid on February 1, sending Yahoo shares up as high as $29.83 each on the day, a huge increase from $19.18 before the offer. Yahoo first rejected the bid on February 11, but did enter talks with Microsoft. In the end, the deal fell apart despite a sweetened offer of $33 per share from Microsoft.
Yahoo shares fell 15 percent on Monday to US$24.37, after dropping to as low as $22.97 earlier in the day.
Yahoo appears to have sought several alternatives to the Microsoft deal, including reportedly trying a tie-up with Google on its search advertising business. Lawyers for the pension funds, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman, say attempts at such deals show that Yang never negotiated with Microsoft in good faith.
Yahoo did a two-week test run of Google ads in April, but hasn't disclosed the results.
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Computerworld Live Podcast #97: The Future of Enterprise Networking 25/07/2008 09:45:36
This week CW Live chats with Mark Thompson, global sales and marketing manager for HP ProCurve, on the future of the enterprise networking. Mark discusses the trends we can expect to see in the near future and how the right infrastructure can ensure your enterprise network is secure. - +
Computerworld Live Podcast #96: Security at the Edge 11/06/2008 09:22:22
CW Live speaks with Amol Mitra, HP ProCurve Director of Marketing for Asia Pacific and Japan. Today's topic: how enterprises are starting to shift away from simply controlling security via server logins, firewalls and moving to more adaptive security frameworks. - +
Data Management Edition #10: Multi-Petascale Systems 02/05/2008 09:12:33
This week we look at sustainability and the development of multicore technologies to build multi-petascale systems. - +
IT Security Edition #11: How to poison the Storm botnet 01/05/2008 08:51:55
This week CW Live presents a case study on how to poison the notorious Storm botnet . Plus we take a look at Cisco's plans for Ironport. - +
IT Security Edition #10: Cyber-battles fought and won 24/04/2008 11:09:47
Vendors bow to end user pressure to improve product security, and we take a look at the latest concepts shaping the cyber-battlefield of the future.
Vignette Announces 2008 Excellence Awards 2008-11-21 10:50:00+11
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Verizon Business Offers Tips to Building a Successful Unified Communications and Collaboration Plan 2008-11-20 12:04:00+11
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Refresh your AUP: Top tips to ensure your acceptable use policy is fit for purpose
Your organisation may well have devised and implemented an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) some time ago in order to guard against the risks of inappropriate use of computer systems by your workers, but are you confident that your AUP remains 'fit for purpose'? Read on to discover how you can enhance the effectiveness of your AUP.
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