Business News Roundup, March 31
Yahoo is making it harder for activist investors to launch proxy battles in the future.
The Sunnyvale company said it is changing its bylaws so that at next year’s annual shareholder meeting, investors or groups holding at least 3 percent of Yahoo common stock for at least three years would have the easiest path to nominating directors.
A group could qualify as up to 20 shareholders, Yahoo said in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.
New York hedge fund Starboard Value is waging a campaign to overthrow Yahoo’s nine-member board with its own set of candidates that have business operations, media and technology industry experience.
“It makes it harder for smaller investors to not only get access, but also toss out the entire board,” said Patrick Moorhead, president of advisory firm Moor Insights & Strategy.
Shareholders will determine whether Starboard or Yahoo’s nominees will be placed on the board through a voting process held this summer at its annual shareholder meeting.
Starboard is pushing Yahoo to sell its core business and change its leadership team, at a time that Yahoo is struggling to turn around its Internet properties.
The FBI agreed Wednesday to help an Arkansas prosecutor unlock an iPhone and iPod belonging to two teenagers accused of killing a couple, just days after the federal agency announced it had gained access to an iPhone linked to the gunman in a mass shooting in California.
A jury found Wednesday that a flawed General Motors ignition switch was not to blame in a 2014 accident on an icy New Orleans bridge, handing the carmaker its second victory in a row in trials meant to help lawyers settle dozens of similar claims.
The jury found that the plaintiffs’ 2007 Saturn Sky was unreasonably dangerous because it contained the faulty ignition switch.