Steven M Durko
New York, NY
Yahoo Buys Back Third Point Shares
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) director and activist investor Daniel Loeb is leaving the board and selling $1.16 billion of his stake back to the company, capping an almost two-year effort to revamp the Web portal.
Yahoo will repurchase 40 million shares at $29.11 apiece from Loeb’s Third Point LLC, leaving him with about 20 million shares, or less than a 2 percent stake, the Sunnyvale, California-based company said today in a statement. Loeb’s allies on the board, Harry Wilson and Michael Wolf, are also stepping down, leaving Yahoo with seven directors.
Loeb became a director in May 2012 in a shakeup tied to the ouster of former Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Scott Thompson over inaccuracies on his resume. The shares have almost doubled since Loeb joined the board and helped bring in Google Inc. executive Marissa Mayer as CEO. His departure today prompted a drop in the stock as some investors speculated Loeb may see limited upside to Mayer’s turnaround plan.