Veteran TV executive Peter Liguori, last week trying to
rescue the OWN cable network for Discovery Communications and Oprah Winfrey,
has been appointed to the board of embattled Internet company Yahoo.
Liguori, former COO at Discovery and chairman and president
of Fox Broadcasting, is one of three new independent directors named Sunday by
Yahoo, which under pressure from one of its large shareholders.
Also joining Yahoo's board were John D. Hayes, executive VP
and chief marketing officer of American Express Co. and Thomas J. McInerney,
outgoing CFO at IAC/InterActive Corp.
The appointments were denounced by Yahoo shareholder Third
Point, which has been trying to add its own directors to Yahoo's board.
In a
statement, Third Point, an investment advisor, said it is "disappointed by
today's announcement by Roy Bostock, the company's lame duck outgoing Chairman,
and its board of directors. Since we launched our campaign for a better Yahoo,
our goal has been clear: to fix a dysfunctional Board by adding new Directors
who are truly independent and squarely aligned with shareholders to increase
Yahoo's value."
Among
the directors proposed by Third Point are former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Zucker
and former MTV president Michael Wolf.
Third
Point said it has been trying to avoid a proxy content, but that "the board has
shown yet again that they are unable to execute deals that are in the Company's
best interests. Sadly for shareholders - who will once more bear the costs -
the consequence of the Board's refusal to accept Third Point's
shareholder-friendly proposals will be a time-consuming and distracting proxy
contest that the Company can ill-afford."
Yahoo
named Scott Thompson, former president of eBay's PayPal unit as CEO in January.
Thompson is expected to announce a reorganization of Yahoo.
"Yahoo is moving aggressively to increase shareholder value,"
said Bostock, Yahoo's chairman and a former advertising executive. "We have
appointed a capable and dynamic CEO who is driving the business towards its
next era of success. And we have reconstituted the Board of Directors with the
right mix of experience and expertise to help Yahoo build upon its very strong
assets and brand base to take advantage of the opportunities ahead."
