Icahn steps down from Yahoo board

published 26 October 2009

Carl Icahn has permanently vacated his seat on the board of Yahoo, claiming that the company no longer required an "activist director" and that his attention was required elsewhere.

In a letter to Yahoo's management board, Icahn stated that is he currently focused on a number of other companies and would therefore not have the time available demanded by a board-level role at Yahoo.

His resignation is effective immediately.

"When I joined the Board, the company was in a state of turmoil. In the period since then, we have all worked together to achieve much for the Company, most notably bringing Carol on to be the CEO and then consummating the search deal with Microsoft. I am proud to have played a role in both these decisions," Icahn said in his resignation letter.

"I don'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. 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 fulfill his fiduciary duties to the shareholders."

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Maggie has been a journalist since 1999, starting her career as an editorial assistant on then-weekly magazine Computing, before working her way up to senior reporter level. In 2006, just weeks before ITPro was launched, Maggie joined Dennis Publishing as a reporter. Having worked her way up to editor of ITPro, she was appointed group editor of CloudPro and ITPro in April 2012. She became the editorial director and took responsibility for ChannelPro, in 2016.

Her areas of particular interest, aside from cloud, include management and C-level issues, the business value of technology, green and environmental issues and careers to name but a few.