Kara Swisher

Recent Posts by Kara Swisher

New Yahoo Shareholder Vote: Yang Disapproval More Than Doubles

The vote is now in and it’s not so pretty for Yahoo, as it turns out.

Broadridge Financial Solutions’ corrected tabulation of the vote at the Yahoo annual meeting on Aug. 1, without the “truncation errors,” came out and, it seems, shareholders are actually mighty irked at Yahoo leadership.

Most glaringly, the new result shows Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s disapproval more than double what was previously reported, rising from 14.6 percent votes withheld to 33.7 percent. Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock saw his shares withheld rise from 20.5 percent to 39.6 percent.

Yang (pictured here), who has been under fire for his management of Yahoo (YHOO), is likely to now endure yet another round of questioning about whether he should stay in his job in the wake of this massive show of disapproval by investors.

Here is part of Yahoo’s press release, with the correct and incorrect tables below:

Yahoo! Acknowledges Tabulation Error by Broadridge

SUNNYVALE, Calif., August 5, 2008 – Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) was informed today by Corporate Election Services, the inspector of elections for the Yahoo! annual meeting of shareholders on August 1, 2008, that Corporate Election Services was notified this morning by Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., an independent voting intermediary that processes proxies on behalf of banks, brokers and institutions, of errors made by Broadridge in reporting votes at the meeting. Specifically, as Broadridge publicly disclosed earlier today, when Broadridge reported voting results for “withholds,” a truncation error occurred in reporting share numbers that exceeded eight digits.

The following table reflects the corrected Broadridge numbers:

Roy Bostock (Shares For: 632,023,657/60.4%; Shares withheld 414,071,927/39.6%)

Ronald W. Burkle (649,373,291/62.1%; 396,722,293/37.9%)

Eric Hippeau (948,862,579/90.7%; 97,233,005/9.3%)

Vyomesh Joshi (971,594,650/92.9%; 74,500,934/7.1%)

Arthur H. Kern (714,871,925/68.3%; 331,223,659/31.7%)

Robert A. Kotick (967,044,818/92.4%; 79,050,766/7.6%)

Mary Agnes Wilderotter 964,939,727/92.2%: 81,155,857/7.8%)

Gary L. Wilson (756,006,576/72.3%; 290,089,008/27.7%)

Jerry Yang (693,055,602/66.3%;353,039,982/33.7%)

The following table shows the original voting results certified by the inspector of elections, as previously reported:

Roy J. Bostock (Shares for: 832,023,657/79.5%; Shares Withheld: 214,071,927/20.5%)

Ronald W. Burkle (849,373,291/81.2%; 196,722,293/18.8%)

Eric Hippeau (948,862,579/90.7%; 97,233,005/9.3%)

Vyomesh Joshi (971,594,650/92.9%; 74,500,934/7.1%)

Arthur H. Kern (814,871,925/77.9%; 231,223,659 /22.1%)

Robert A. Kotick (967,044,818; 92.4%; 79,050,766/7.6%)

Mary Agnes Wilderotter (964,939,727/92.2%; 81,155,857/7.8%)

Gary L. Wilson (856,006,576/81.8%; 190,089,008/18.2%)

Jerry Yang (893,055,602/85.4%; 153,039,982/14.6%)

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There was a worry before I started this that I was going to burn every bridge I had. But I realize now that there are some bridges that are worth burning.

— Valleywag editor Sam Biddle