Shares of Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) plummeted on news that its multiple-sclerosis drug Tysabri was linked to brain infections causing death, leaving 4.3% shareholder Carl Icahn with a hefty paper loss.
But Icahn didn't back down. Having already pushed for one unsuccessful effort to sell the company, and having lost a bid for three seats on the board of directors, Icahn filed a 13-D announcing that he had raised his stake to 6.1%, buying in the wake of the brain infection announcement.
As one of the smarter activist value investors going, Carl Icahn's moves are closely watched by investors looking to piggyback off his ideas.
It was about 18 years ago that I attended my first shareholders' meeting (for a local utility). The company had recently eliminated the dividend and many several angry people were in the crowd. It was exciting stuff.
But it was also an exception -- at least based on many other shareholder meetings I've attended (which are mostly formalities).
Despite this, I thought things would be different with the Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) meeting, which happened last week.
Well, I was wrong. Apparently, the meeting was a snooze-fest. In fact, Yahoo!'s shareholders voted overwhelming to keep their board members. This was despite the fact that the company seemed to fumble a juicy $47.5 billion buyout offer from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).
Interestingly enough, at the board meeting, the directors made it clear that they were thoughtful about the offer but also wanted to get the best deal for shareholders. Moreover, Yahoo! said that it was surprised that Microsoft withdrew its offer.
Of course, Yahoo! has also been the target of activist shareholder, Carl Icahn. Then again, he'll be on the board anyway (where I'm sure he'll make his views widely known).
In June 2000, Richard Wagoner became president and CEO of General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) In case you haven't been paying attention for the last eight years, here's an overview of what's gone down:
GM paid huge dividends even as its pension and health care obligations spiraled out of control leaving the company in a precarious capital position.
When SUVs started to get hot, GM essentially bet its future on the continuation of that trend and the reasonably low gas prices that made it possible. That's right: GM was essentially an commodities speculation hedge fund masquerading as a car company. Now Bloomberg is reporting that GM lost $2 billion on leased SUVs.
Now that gas is at $4 per gallon and M&A activity has dried up, GM has decided that this is a good time to try to sell its Hummer brand. Does it come with Pogs, Pokemon cards, and HD DVD?
The stock was trading in the $60 per share range when Wagoner took the helm and now it's fallen to $11.07 and Merrill Lynch is saying that a GM bankruptcy is "not impossible." And remember: Merrill Lynch has been overly optimistic about its own ability to survive without raising capital. So "not impossible" may very well mean "quite possible."
Given all that, I have a serious question for General Motors' board of directors: How can Richard Wagoner possibly still be your CEO? Hypothetically, what would he have to do to get fired? Join Al Qaeda? In 2007, Wagoner took home $14,415,914, a 41% raise over 2006.
The fact that Carl Icahn isn't filing a 13-D and raising hell is indicative of the fact that this is one company that's probably too late for saving.
Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is out with numbers and it appears that while there is a bit of growth, it's nothing to write home about. According to the Business Wire report: " Revenues were $1,798 million for the second quarter of 2008, a 6 percent increase compared to $1,698 million for the same period of 2007. "
Keep in mind that with the big shareholder meeting set for August 1st, don't you think the company would have done all they could to deliver a super earnings report? If this is the best that they can do, 6% revenue growth, then something is very wrong with management, and Carl Icahn is going to have a much easier job of trying to replace CEO Jerry Yang. With shares trading at about $20, they are going to have to do some fancy talking to show why rejecting a $31 to $33 per share offer from Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) was actually good for shareholders.
The company keeps talking a good game and about future growth, but it comes down to just one principle for investors: Show us the money.
Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer's fund has no position in any stock mentioned, as of 7/22/08.
Today was light on the economic front as far as impact numbers. The June leading economic indicators were down at -0.1%, and the May gain of +0.1% was revised lower to -0.2%. This shows little argument for a strengthening economy. Oil showed how it can still rise as tropical storm Dolly is in the Gulf of Mexico and no deal was reached with Iran, with prices back above $131.00 per barrel. Today was looking like a gain at the start, but the market slid as the day went on.
Below are today's unofficial closing bell index levels:
DJIA 11.467.67 (-28.90) S&P 500 1259.72 (-0.96) NASDAQ 2279.69 (-3.09) 10 YR T-NOTE 4.067% (-0.014%) 52-WEEK LOWS Top Analyst Calls
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) showed a more than 4.6% gain at $28.80 in today's final minutes after the earnings report this morning came in far above lowered expectations. This stock is now up over 50% in a few days.
Reuters reports that Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) has announced that it will add activist investor, Carl Icahn, who owns 5% of Yahoo stock, to its board. Why?
Yahoo's board picked what it thought was the lesser of two evils. It could have spent time on a proxy contest in which Icahn's slate of directors would replace the current board at the August 1 shareholders meeting, or it could just expand the board from nine to 11, taking on Icahn and two others from his slate, since only 8 of Yahoo's current directors are standing for reelection.
This reminds me of a line from The Godfather: "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer." I don't know the way the Yahoo board makes decisions but if Icahn can't persuade at least three other of its current board members to go along with him -- to get a 6-5 majority -- he is likely not to have much of an impact on Yahoo's fate.
And so the drama continues. Meanwhile, investors have traded Yahoo down 1.7% in premarket.
After hitting a one-year high of $34.08 in October, the stock hit a one-year low of $18.58 in January. This morning, YHOO opened at $23.12. So far today the stock has hit a low of $22.22 and a high of $23.24. As of 1:25, YHOO is trading at $22.40, down $1.17 (-4.9%). The chart for YHOO looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.
For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an August bear-call credit spread above the $27.50 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 11.1% return in five weeks as long as YHOO is below $27.50 at August expiration. Yahoo! would have to rise by more than 22% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.
YHOO hasn't been above $27.50 since late May and has shown resistance around $24.50 recently. This trade could be risky if the company ends up agreeing to a deal with Microsoft in the coming month, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by resistance YHOO might find at its 200 day moving average, which is currently around $26.50 and falling.
DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in YHOO. He does own and control bullish hedged positions in MSFT.
Late Friday, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Carl Icahn made an offer to the Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) board. Microsoft would buy Yahoo!'s search business and Icahn would take the rest of the company. Yahoo! was given one day to respond.
The Yahoo! board rejected the offer.
According to Reuters, "This odd and opportunistic alliance of Microsoft and Carl Icahn has anything but the interests of Yahoo!'s stockholders in mind," Yahoo! Chairman Roy Bostock said in the statement.
Smart move. The offer from Microsoft and Icahn looks desperate. Many investors have indicated that they do not want to side with Icahn in his proxy fight against Yahoo!, unless he can guarantee a price at which the company will be bought. These shareholders probably think Icahn cannot operate Yahoo! as an independent company much better than the current management can.
Microsoft needs Yahoo!. Redmond is now a distant third in the search business. If Yahoo! wins the proxy battle, Microsoft will be back with an open wallet.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247 wallst.com.
Here is a novel idea. Big Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) shareholder Legg Mason thinks more investors would support Carl Icahn's effort to control the portal company if the raider will not sell out to Microsoft or anyone else for under $33. At $32.99 it's no deal.
Legg Mason's Bill Miller toldReuters, "The difficulty with Icahn is he'd have more shareholder support if he would say he wouldn't sell the company for less than $33."
Fair enough. One of the problems with hooking up with raiders is that they often fail. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has already indicated it would pay $33 for Yahoo!. Why should shareholder take less?
Miller may be thinking of Icahn's recent deals to pressure Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) to improve "shareholder value". Neither one of those have done well. Investors who followed Icahn in have lost plenty of money.
Legg Mason's comment makes sense. "Put up or shut up:"
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com."
Corporate advertisers are not flocking to YouTube despite the fact that the video sharing site attracts one billion views a day, upsetting Google Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOG) expectations for a strong revenue stream, according to the Wall Street Journal. Total ad revenue for Google this year will be about $200M from the site, where the company is counting on growth beyond its text ads from Web searches.
A day after Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) said it would be interested in reopening talks to acquire some of all of Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) if Carl Icahn's proxy battle succeeds, the Wall Street Journal reported that Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang accused Microsoft of "trying to destabilize" the company "without a real desire to complete a deal".
OTHER PAPERS:
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that Comair, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE: DAL), is set to cut 300 pilots and 220 flight attendants from its staff. The paper said the layoffs will go into effect in September when Comair cuts its flight schedule as part of Delta's capacity cuts and will affect crew members based at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
WEB SITES:
Iran successfully test-launched a long-range version of its Shahab-3 missile, according to Iranian news service Al-Alam. The missile can reach U.S. military bases in the Persian Gulf and Israel.
If we told you that a $3.00-plus drop in the price of oil wouldn't cause a major stock rally, it might only not be a surprise the bears who believe we are headed lower no matter what. Today was one where the markets spent much time in negative territory and then recovering towards the end of the day before making one last dive. If you think it was a quiet day, we had nearly a 300-point difference between today's high in the morning and the lows before today's recovery. These are today's unofficial closing levels:
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) saw a severe downgrade after Lehman cut it to Underweight on its premium to peers and weakness tied to Theme Park exposure. Shares were down over 2% at $30.22 in today's final minutes.
In an open letter to his fellow long-suffering Yahoo shareholders, billionaire Carl Icahn disclosed that he has spoken "frequently" with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer; "frequently" over the past week about Yahoo. Ballmer indicated to Icahn that the world's largest software company would still be interested in doing a deal ... with one catch.
"Steve made it abundantly clear that, due to his experiences with Yahoo! during the past several months, he cannot negotiate any transaction with the current board," Icahn said. "If a new board were elected, he would be interested in discussing a major transaction with Yahoo!, such as either a transaction to purchase the "Search" function with large financial guarantees or, in the alternative, purchasing the whole company. He stated that Microsoft would be willing to enter into discussion immediately if the new board that has been nominated were elected."
In a separate press release, Microsoft underscored Icahn's statement, adding that despite speaking with Yahoo!'s board since last year, the company decided that it cannot reach an agreement with the current board. Can you say trial balloon?
The war of words between Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) and dissident shareholder Carl Icahn is intensifying. Last week, Yahoo attached a PowerPoint-style presentation to an SEC filing, bizarrely raising questions about Icahn's track record as a stock picker.
Now Icahn is back with a new letter, issued as a press release titled Icahn Issues Open Letter to Shareholders of Yahoo. Icahn confirmed that he has been in frequent communication with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer over the past week. Icahn wrote that "Steve made it clear to me that if a new board were elected, he would be interested in discussing a major transaction with Yahoo!, such as either a transaction to purchase the "Search" function with large financial guarantees or, in the alternative, purchasing the whole company. He stated that Microsoft would be willing to enter into discussion immediately if the new board that has been nominated were elected."
Lest you think Icahn is blowing smoke, Microsoft followed up with a response to Icahn's statement issued five minutes later, saying, "We confirm, however, that after the shareholder election Microsoft would be interested in discussing with a new board a major transaction with Yahoo!, such as either a transaction to purchase the "Search" function with large financial guarantees or, in the alternative, purchasing the whole company."
This should sway a lot of investors over to Icahn's side in the proxy fight. With its stock having been a weak performer over the past five years, the company is clearly in a position where it needs to be considering strategic alternatives. Microsoft has made it clear that it is not interested in working with the current board on a possible deal and it's in the best interests of shareholders that the company be represented by people who are willing to do what is right for them.
I think we can start the countdown to CEO Jerry Yang's departure to spend more time with his family and charitable endeavors. The market seems to agree, with the stock up nearly 10% MOnday.
While calling Arthur Levitt's tenure as chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission ineffective would be an understatement, he could, and still can, be relied upon to say the right thing. Now that the SEC finally has the quorum necessary to take action on a variety of issues, they should take Levitt's advice about proxy access changes.
Earlier this year the SEC made it impossible for shareholders to change the way directors are elected -- one of the most anti-investor events in recent history -- and it's time for that to change. Levitt writes in The Wall Street Journal that "While not a panacea, giving shareholders a bigger voice in the companies they own would go a long way in helping to restore trust."
Exactly. Some critics of strong corporate governance say that the SEC shouldn't meddle in these affairs. I basically agree: but the problem is that the SEC has meddled, making it impossible for shareholders to take control of their own companies when necessary.
In a PowerPoint-style presentation intended to rebuke criticism of its commitment to enhancing shareholder value, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) attacks Carl Icahn's recent track record as an investor.
One slide points out that 11 of Icahn's 15 most recent investments in public companies have declined in value since he took his position. But what exactly is Yahoo!'s point? That Icahn is a lousy investor and probably wrong for investing in Yahoo! too? If that's the case, then they'd better sell the company while they can before it turns into another Icahn dud!
Shares of Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) plummeted on news that its multiple-sclerosis drug Tysabri was linked to brain infections causing death, leaving 4.3% shareholder Carl Icahn with a hefty paper loss. 
It was about 18 years ago that I attended my first shareholders' meeting (for a local utility). The company had recently eliminated the dividend and many several angry people were in the crowd. It was exciting stuff.
In June 2000, Richard Wagoner became president and CEO of 
.gif){kind=logo}
The 
In a 
Before the bell: Further declines; MER downgraded, SNDK may be bought, BA, DELL, MO ...
Serious Money: How 'Stable' after 345 DJIA drop? -- CB, DIS, JNJ, TEVA & XEL
Is BT's offer to save Britain's red phone boxes for £500 fair?
