Yahoo Shareholders Speak Out

Today was the day Terry Semmel and the board of directors of Yahoo! faced the music, or stepped into the ring for their "title fight".  Yahoo! shareholders voted today and they sent a message, loud and clear that they are not exactly happy with the way that things are being run at the search engine giant.

According to the Wall Street Journal, only 66% of the shareholders approved the slate of candidates.  This is in contrast to last year's 97% approval.  A withholding rate of 20% is considered high, and sends a message, but 34% is probably screaming volumes right now.

The New York Times has more on the meeting, stating:

"...shareholders voted down proposals to tie executive pay to competitive performance and challenge the company's human rights policies in China at their annual meeting on Tuesday.

Company-sponsored proposals received solid majorities, including plans to expand the share count for use in employee stock option plans, according to voting overseer Josh McGinn, of the independent transfer agent ComputerShare Trust Co."

Industry insiders were speculating about how the shareholders would react to this past year's performance.  I think it's safe to say, they are not happy at all with the current performance and are sending a message loud and clear, Terry Semmel's got to turn things around this year.