Major Yahoo shareholder Legg Mason throws support behind current board in blow to Icahn

One of Yahoo Inc.'s largest shareholders is supporting the re-election of the Internet company's incumbent board, delivering a significant blow to an attempted coup being led by activist investor Carl Icahn. With Friday's announcement, Legg Mason Capital Management Inc. became the biggest major Yahoo shareholder to publicly declare it will vote for the nine current directors — a group that has been under fire since Microsoft withdrew a $47.5 billion takeover bid 2 1/2 months ago in a disagreement over price. Legg Mason, a mutual fund manager, owns 4.4 percent of Yahoo's stock. The final ballots in Yahoo's battle with Icahn will be cast at the company's annual meeting Aug. 1. Signaling that Yahoo is pulling out all the stops in its campaign, the company on Friday began promoting its argument against Icahn on the main page of... [read full story]