Billionaire investor Carl Icahn resigned on Friday from his position on the Yahoo board, saying the US Internet giant no longer needed an “activist” director like him.
“I don’t believe that it is necessary at this time to have an activist on the board of Yahoo and currently, my attention is focused on other matters,” Icahn, one of the company’s biggest shareholders, wrote in a resignation letter to the board, a copy of which was provided by his office.
“As a result, I do not presently have the time that is necessary to devote to the business and affairs of Yahoo required if a board member is to fulfill his fiduciary duties to the shareholders,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the investor, Susan Gordon, said in a statement that Icahn “indicated that there are a number of other companies on which he is currently focused.”
Icahn — a financier who has developed a reputation as a corporate raider — on Monday offered a US$6 billion loan to ailing lending giant CIT Group.
In late August, Icahn sold 12.7 million shares in Yahoo, cutting his stake in the company a month after it formed an Internet search partnership with software giant Microsoft.
Last November, following the decision of Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang (楊致遠) to step down as head of the Internet firm, Icahn increased his stake in Yahoo to 5.4 percent, up from the 5 percent he owned previously.
Icahn and Yang were involved in a very public dispute last year when Yang rejected a US$47 billion takeover bid by Microsoft for the company he founded with a Stanford University classmate in 1995.
Icahn headed a shareholder revolt to oust Yahoo leaders for bungling the Microsoft deal.
Yahoo last year avoided an ugly show-down with Icahn, whose campaign to overthrow the board was ended by a truce that assured him three seats.
“Icahn was there to drive the sale to Microsoft,” analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley said.
“Microsoft doesn’t really want to buy Yahoo and Yahoo isn’t interested in being acquired. So what’s he going to do? He probably figures his time is better spent elsewhere,” Enderle said.
Icahn’s sale of Yahoo stock came a month after the company agreed to a Web search and advertising partnership with Microsoft.
“Carl has been an important member of the board and has helped us through some significant transitions,” Yahoo said on Friday in a release. “We are all grateful for his active role shaping the future of Yahoo and wish him well in all of his endeavors.”
In his resignation letter, he also praised Yahoo’s new chief executive Carol Bartz, who took over after Yang’s departure.
“Carol is doing a great job and I believe the Microsoft transaction will provide great long term benefits, the potential of which many still do not understand,” Icahn said.
Last year, Icahn’s net worth was estimated to stand at US$14 billion, but this year, following the stock market slump, Forbes magazine recalculated his net worth as US$9 billion.
US SANCTIONS: The Taiwan tech giant has ended all shipments to China-based Sophgo Technologies after one of their chips was discovered in a Huawei phone Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) suspended shipments to China-based chip designer Sophgo Technologies Ltd (算能科技) after a chip it made was found on a Huawei Technologies Co (華為) artificial intelligence (AI) processor, according to two people familiar with the matter. Sophgo had ordered chips from TSMC that matched the one found on Huawei’s Ascend 910B, the people said. Huawei is restricted from buying the technology to protect US national security. Reuters could not determine how the chip ended up on the Huawei product. Sophgo said in a statement on its Web site yesterday that it was in compliance with all laws
SPEED OF LIGHT: US lawmakers urged the commerce department to examine the national security threats from China’s development of silicon photonics technology US President Joe Biden’s administration on Monday said it is finalizing rules that would limit US investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology sectors in China that could threaten US national security. The rules, which were proposed in June by the US Department of the Treasury, were directed by an executive order signed by Biden in August last year covering three key sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and certain AI systems. The rules are to take effect on Jan. 2 next year and would be overseen by the Treasury’s newly created Office of Global Transactions. The Treasury said the “narrow
TECH TITANS: Nvidia briefly overtook Apple again on Friday after becoming the world’s largest company for a short period in June, as Microsoft fell to third place Nvidia Corp dethroned Apple Inc as the world’s most valuable company on Friday following a record-setting rally in the stock, powered by insatiable demand for its specialized artificial intelligence (AI) chips. Nvidia’s stock market value briefly touched US$3.53 trillion, slightly above Apple’s US$3.52 trillion, London Stock Exchange Group data showed. Nvidia ended the day up 0.8 percent, with a market value of US$3.47 trillion, while Apple’s shares rose 0.4 percent, valuing the iPhone maker at US$3.52 trillion. In June, Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable company before it was overtaken by Microsoft Corp and Apple. The tech trio’s market capitalizations have been
SPECULATION: The central bank cut the loan-to-value ratio for mortgages on second homes by 10 percent and denied grace periods to prevent a real-estate bubble The central bank’s board members in September agreed to tighten lending terms to induce a soft landing in the housing market, although some raised doubts that they would achieve the intended effect, the meeting’s minutes released yesterday showed. The central bank on Sept. 18 introduced harsher loan restrictions for mortgages across Taiwan in the hope of curbing housing speculation and hoarding that could create a bubble and threaten the financial system’s stability. Toward the aim, it cut the loan-to-value ratio by 10 percent for second and subsequent home mortgages and denied grace periods for first mortgages if applicants already owned other residential