Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has resigned from his position on the board of Yahoo!,saying the US Internet giant no longer needed an 8220;activist8221; director like him.
8220;I don8217;t believe that it is necessary at this time to have an activist on the board of Yahoo! and currently,my attention is focused on other matters,8221; Icahn,one of the company8217;s largest shareholders,wrote in a resignation letter to the board,a copy of which was provided by his office.
8220;As a result,I do not presently have the time that is necessary to devote to the business and affairs of Yahoo! required if a board member is to fulfil his fiduciary duties to the shareholders,8221; he added.
A spokeswoman for the investor,Susan Gordon,said in a statement that Icahn 8220;indicated that there are a number of other companies on which he is currently focused.8221; Icahn 8212; a financier who has developed a reputation as a corporate raider 8212; on Monday offered a six-billion-dollar loan to ailing lending giant CIT Group.
In late August Icahn sold 12.7 million shares in Yahoo!,cutting his stake in the company a month after it formed an Internet search partnership with software giant Microsoft.
Last November,following the decision of Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang to step down as head of the Internet firm,Icahn increased his stake in Yahoo! to 5.4 per cent,up from the 5.0 percent he owned previously.