Yahoo snubs activist shareholder with 2 new directors

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo set up a battle for control of its board by appointing two directors likely to further agitate an activist shareholder threatening to lead an investor mutiny aimed at ousting CEO Marissa Mayer unless she bows to demands to sell the company's Internet operations.

If the confrontation occurs, it would escalate the challenges already facing Mayer and the rest of Yahoo's board as they try to reverse a prolonged decline in the company's revenue and figure out a way to avoid paying taxes on the gains from a roughly $28 billion stake that it holds in China's e-commerce leader, Alibaba Group.

Mayer wants to pursue a plan that calls for Yahoo to lay off 15 percent of its workforce and shed unprofitable services to reduce expenses and sharpen the company's focus on mobile, digital video and its most popular specialties, such as sports and finance.