Eric Jackson
A "withhold" or "against" vote is a direct protest vote. It can make a difference, although we would still have no say over new directors Yahoo! might choose to replace them with.
Last year, I led a campaign to encourage Yahoo! shareholders to vote "against" seven or 10 directors. As reported by the Times last year, of "the 1.125 billion shares outstanding, 35 percent voted against, the reelection of Mr. Burkle, 35 percent against Mr. Kern, and 34 percent against Mr. Bostock." All the other directors received 6-8% of the votes cast against them. Six days after the annual meeting last year, Terry Semel resigned after saying to me that he still had the "fire in the belly" to continue on, during the Q&A at the meeting. Based on the frustration and anger expressed in the last couple of days, a sharp uptick in "against" votes is highly likely two months from now. And no deal with Google (GOOG Quote - Cramer on GOOG - Stock Picks), stock buyback, or dividend is going to stop it. We could conceivably see every single Yahoo! director voted out on to the curb on July 3. Now that would make for some impressive Independence Day fireworks for Yahoo!'s long-suffering shareholders.
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