Yahoo Close To Naming Biondi, Chapple To New Board
San Francisco – With former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller obviously out of the picture, Yahoo Inc. is at the concluding stages of vetting two new members, former Viacom Inc. Chief Executive Frank Biondi and John Chapple, the former CEO of Nextel Partners, nominated by billionaire activist Carl Icahn to its board of directors by the end of the week, according to a report late Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal.
“The appointments are not yet final but likely,” the source said.
Icahn, who had been seeking to grab control of Yahoo’s board, called off his proxy battle last month after the company offered to give seats on the board to him and two of his associates.
Yahoo — which is expected to announce the appointments by Friday — has yet to make a final decision, according to this person, but the informed individual characterized the two names as the board’s preferred choices’ who were likely to be selected unless any unforeseen issues arose.
Several names have been mentioned in relation to the open seats. Jonathan Miller, the former CEO of America Online, was considered to be a top contender before AOL parent Time Warner invoked a noncompete agreement that prevented Miller from being considered for the post.
As part of the deal, Yahoo agreed to appoint Icahn to its nine-member board and add two new directors from Icahn’s list of nominees, which included Biondi and Chapple, by mid-August.
If confirmed, Biondi and Chapple will be filling two new slots created in the pact with Icahn.
Biondi, who runs an investment adviser firm, is the former chief executive of Universal Studios and Viacom. Chapple was the chief executive of Nextel Partners before it was bought by Sprint Nextel Corp., and is currently the president of private-equity firm Hawkeye Investments LLC.
Both the nominees are seasoned corporate CEOs with strong experience in the media and technology worlds, respectively.
Icahn and Biondi have teamed up on proxy battles before. As part of his campaign to take control the Time Warner Inc. board a few years ago, Icahn expressed his desire to install Biondi as CEO of Time Warner if the effort, which failed, succeeded.
Yahoo has depicted its agreement with Icahn as a chance to move beyond the uncertainty it has faced since Microsoft Corp.’s Jan. 31 offer to acquire it with a new board ready to evaluate its options with fresh eyes.
How aggressively Icahn intends to keep pressuring for a sweeping strategic change — such as a deal with AOL or Yahoo selling its search business to Microsoft — remains unclear.
A Yahoo spokesman declined to comment. Messrs. Biondi and Chapple couldn’t be reached for comment.