Last Friday's Yahoo shareholders' meeting seemed a bit of a non-event after "corporate raider" Carl Icahn decided not to show up, and chief executive Jerry Yang romped home with 85.4% of the vote.
Except he didn't. Yahoo's proxy firm Broadridge miscounted the votes. Yang only got 66.3%, with the other third being withheld. Roy J Bostock, who was also closely associated with the failed Microsoft takeover, did even worse with a 60.4% score. This compares with directors such as HP's Vyomesh Joshi (92.9%) and Activision's Robert Kotick (92.4%). Silicon Alley Insider has the before and after scores.
No funny business was involved, and it doesn't change the result. It just means Jerry Yang et al are not as popular with their shareholders as they thought.
