Carol Bartz Not The Only Person Who Objects To Yahoo Board's Lack Of Phone Etiquette
Bartz suggested that board chairman Roy Bostock lacked both balls and class for firing her over the phone rather than face to face. Dan Loeb, meanwhile, also has to question Bostock's class after the chairman hung up on him rather than listen to hard truths like "you are unaware of what it takes to be an effective leader" and "I will pursue whatever efforts are necessary to remove you from the board."
At the outset of the September 12 Conversation, Messrs. Bostock and Yang discussed with Mr. Loeb recent general developments in the Issuer’s business. After Mr. Loeb questioned Mr. Bostock’s leadership and commitment to act in the best interests of shareholders, Mr. Loeb concluded from Mr. Bostock’s failure to acknowledge any responsibility for the Issuer’s problems that Mr. Bostock was unaware of what it takes to be an effective leader and that Mr. Bostock was not likely to resign from the Board of Directors. Mr. Loeb informed Messrs. Bostock and Yang that Mr. Bostock was part of the Issuer’s problem and that the Management Company intended to pursue whatever efforts were necessary to remove Mr. Bostock from the Board of Directors. The September 12 Conversation ended abruptly when Mr. Bostock terminated the call.
All Loeb wanted was a chance to vent, but since that was so rudely cut short he went out and canvassed the cognoscenti, discovered that he was not alone in thinking that Bostock is unqualified to be a deputy product manager at GeoCities, and then asked Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang to pitch in to find some new leadership who knows what it takes:
Mr. Bostock’s failure on the call to acknowledge his pivotal role in, and accept responsibility for, the decline of Yahoo! makes clear that he does not intend to voluntarily follow his recently terminated hand-picked executive, Ms. Bartz, out the door. It is our strongly held belief that not only has Mr. Bostock been a destroyer of value, but also so long as he serves as Chairman of the Board, the Company will not be able to attract the talent it needs and deserves, particularly at the CEO level. This opinion is based not only on our prematurely truncated conversation, but on numerous discussions with Silicon Valley cognoscenti and other people familiar with both Mr. Bostock and the Company.
As a Founder and major shareholder of the Company, the abysmal record of the current leadership must be heart-rending to you personally, as well as damaging to your net worth. We urge you to do the right thing for all Yahoo shareholders and push for desperately-needed leadership change. We are prepared to support you and present you with suggestions on candidates who could help bring Yahoo back to its rightful place among the world’s top digital media and technology companies.
Huge Yahoo Shareholder Asks Jerry Yang To Help Him Fire Yahoo's Chairman [BI]