Yahoo fired back at billionaire Carl Icahn today, saying the corporate raider misrepresents and manipulates' the facts in a dispute over a failed merger deal with Microsoft.'
Yahoo added that it has 'reached out' to Microsoft in the past few weeks and remains open to a deal if it is in the interests of shareholders.
In a letter, Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock responded to a series of allegations from Icahn in an earlier letter.
'Your letter seriously misrepresents and manipulates the facts regarding the recent events pertaining to Microsoft and Yahoo,' Bostock said. 'You rely on, as facts, a series of unsubstantiated allegations from a complaint filed in a Delaware court which grossly misstate the very clear record and position established by the Yahoo board.'
Bostock defended an employee retention plan - estimated by Icahn to cost $2.4 billion or more in severance payments in the event of a takeover - as a way 'to help us preserve and enhance shareholder value by allowing Yahoo to continue to attract and retain the industry's best talent, and to allow employees to stay focused on implementing Yahoo's business strategy.'
In a statement released after details emerged from a shareholder lawsuit, Icahn said the best chance for the struggling firm would be to replace the current board and chief executive Jerry Yang to revive the Microsoft bid.
Icahn, citing details from the legal complaint, said he believes Yang and the board were deceitful in negotiations with Microsoft.
'Microsoft might never be able to trust a CEO and board who, while claiming to be negotiating in good faith, went behind their back and adopted a 'plan' which not only sabotages any Microsoft acquisition but went so far as to completely disable its own ability to rescind the 'plan' as long as Microsoft's offer remains pending,' Icahn said.
