Portals Battle Activist Investors

An embattled CEO like Yahoo’s Scott Thompson or AOL’s Tim Armstrong isn’t likely to welcome a proxy fight. But maybe they should. B. Riley analyst Sameet Sinha said proxy fights­—when investors try to use their clout to get public companies to take specific actions—are “inevitable” for Web 1.0 firms like AOL and Yahoo that have valuable assets but slow-moving management. Enter Yahoo’s largest outside shareholder Third Point and one of AOL’s largest, Starboard Value. In proxy documents, the activist investors have called for shake-ups of the respective companies’ boards, with Third Point and Starboard each offering up their own nominees.