I think Icahn push up Yahoo! stock price

Stephen Withers
Monday, 01 December 2008 06:02

Your IT - Home IT

Reports that billionaire Carl Icahn had bought a further $US67 million of Yahoo! stock led to a significant rise in the company's share price late last week.

Icahn was involved in Microsoft's failed $US44 billion bid to acquire Yahoo! earlier this year. He originally threatened a proxy battle aimed at replacing Yahoo!'s board with a slate of pro-acquisition candidates, but settled for a seat for himself and some minor changes to the composition of the board.

Between November 24 and 26, Icahn purchased 6.8 million Yahoo! shares at an average price of $US9.92.

The company's share price closed at $US11.51 on Friday, giving him a paper profit of $US10.8 million within the week.

That's still just a fraction of the $US31 per share offered by Microsoft back in February, when Yahoo! was trading at $US19.18.

But it does average down the cost of Icahn's stake in Yahoo! - he reportedly paid around $US25 per share for his original holding.

The billionaire now owns approximately 5.5 percent of Yahoo!, which is currently looking for a new CEO following co-founder Jerry Yang's decision to step down once a successor has been found.

In related news, there are fresh suggestions that Microsoft is set to make a new proposal to Yahoo!, not for a complete takeover but a $US20 billion bid for the company's search business.