Did Miller’s CEO Chances Lead To Time Warner’s Decision? Possible Board Replacement
By Rafat Ali - Fri 01 Aug 2008 04:51 PM PST
So the real drama was happening outside Yahoo’s (NSDQ: YHOO) annual shareholder meeting...well, happened yesterday, to be exact. Jon Miller won’t going on the Yahoo board for reasons being disputed now, including a denial from Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) that it reneged on a non-compete waiver. What were the motivations behind this last-minute Time Warner move? (Time Warner denies it happened.)
Couple of ways to look at it: One is that it sees no see no hope of an AOL-Yahoo deal, and has no reason to have the common glue (that is, Miller) be a part of Yahoo’s board, as a result. The second, which sounds more plausible, is that Time Warner sees a clear possibility of an AOL-Yahoo deal. Since Miller was ousted out of AOL, under unceremonious circumstances, now the animosity somehow boiled over, and hence TW’s last minute decision to not let him get out of the non-compete.
The subtext: Whichever scenarios you believe in, the fact is Miller, if appointed to the board, had a very real chance of becoming the CEO of Yahoo had Yang decided to step down and the board voted for it. For Bewkes, that would have been a slap in the face, whether he did a deal with Yahoo or not..seeing the guy he fired become the CEO of a Yahoo-AOL combine would have been embarrassing. So would the scenario where Yahoo, helmed by Miller, competed head on with AOL.
But, why didn’t anyone think of this before announcing his name after the settlement with Carl Icahn? Both sides have conflicting stories on this: Yahoo/Miller camp says they thought they had the go ahead; Time Warner side says they never gave a formal go-ahead. Oh well, there is always Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) for Miller, if he chooses to join them and replace Kevin Johnson. And then, there are the umpteen investment from Velocity keeping him busy these days…
Meanwhile, who will be the other board member nominated to replace him? One of the others members in Carl Icahn’s slate was Frank Biondi, former Viacom CEO, and the buzz is that he will be the replacement. Biondi, in semi-retirement now, was also part of an Icahn proxy battle with Motorola. Other names in contention: former Nextel Partners CEO John Chapple, and former Grey Global Group CEO Ed Meyer.
Update: Yahoo just released the results of today’s vote with the board remaining intact formally—and double-digit withhold votes for Bostock. Once elected, Robert Kotick resigned as expected and Carl Icahn was appointed to fill his seat. The remaining two new board members will be announced by Aug. 15.
Posted in: Companies, Time Warner, AOL, Yahoo
Tags: jon miller,
