Yahoo! buys time to counter Microsoft’s board nominations

Mumbai: Yahoo! has announced that it will extend the deadline by which shareholders must nominate candidates for its board, in a move to allow the company's management more time to go after alternatives to thwart Microsoft's $44.6 billion takeover bid.

Yahoo! has decided to move the deadline from the previously decided 14 March, to 10 days after the announcement of the date of its annual shareholder's meeting. That meeting is yet to be scheduled.

Till now, Yahoo! management has been rejecting Microsoft's unsolicited bid on the grounds that it ''undervalues the company." Microsoft has responded saying that it could take the bid directly to Yahoo! shareholders by nominating for their approval board members who are in favour of the bid.

The postponing of the deadline could give some room for seeking alternate suitors to field their own slate of board candidates. Reports in the media suggest that Yahoo! is mulling possible options with Time Warner's AOL unit.

In an email to Yahoo! employees, Chief Executive Jerry Yang explained his reasons for the postponement, saying that ''this change removes an imminent deadline." He said that Microsoft, could choose to name directors, but in extending the deadline, the objective is to enable ''our board to continue to explore all of its strategic alternatives for maximizing value for shareholders, without the distraction of a proxy contest.''

The email also says that the move would also ''make it easier'' for employees to focus intently on delivering on our business strategies and creating value.

According to the laws of Delaware, where Yahoo! is incorporated, the next meeting must take place within 13 months of the last one, which means that there should be one coming on or before 11 July, 2008.