Yang 'em High: "Yahoo shareholders blast execs"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Yahoo executives on Friday were berated by shareholders upset by their handling of failed takeover talks with Microsoft and exposing of Internet dissidents to Chinese officials.

Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang and board chairman Roy Bostock, two key players in the drama-filled negotiations with Microsoft, faced approximately 150 shareholders in a hotel ballroom in downtown San Jose, California.

Voices of support and criticism rose from the gathering, with one shareholder calling for Bostock to resign his post and another praising Yahoo for saving the firm from "over-the-hill green-tentacled octopus" Microsoft.

"I think you overpaid on compensation; I think you overplayed your hand with Microsoft, and I think you overstayed your welcome after last year's vote and should do the honorable thing and step down from this board," stockholder Eric Jackson of Ironfire Capital said during comments from the gathering.

Bostock responded to Jackson with a "No."

"With all the hoopla, with all of the publicity that has surrounded the company in the past six months there has been a great deal of misunderstanding," Bostock told the gathering.

"The board controlled the process of dealing with Microsoft right from the beginning. We called the shots and were deeply involved in every step."

Bostock said the Yahoo board never resisted Microsoft's proposal to buy Yahoo and that it was the US software giant that capriciously walked away from negotiations.

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