Yang support was overstated

Yahoo Inc. shareholders withheld a third of their votes to reelect Chief Executive Jerry Yang to the board, twice as many as reported earlier, a sign that pressure is mounting for him to turn the company around quickly.

Yang won reelection with 66% of the Aug. 1 shareholder vote, Yahoo said Tuesday. Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc., which tallied votes on behalf of its clients, misstated some results in the earlier tally. Investors representing 353 million shares withheld their votes from Yang.

The new results reflect wider disapproval for the board, which rejected a Microsoft Corp. acquisition offer this year. Yahoo investor Capital Research Global Investors, which asked Broadridge to review its vote count, has been critical of Yang’s negotiations with Microsoft.

“The current management team needs to execute to keep their jobs, whether it’s 85% or 65%,” said Colin Gillis, an analyst at Canaccord Adams Inc. in New York, referring to Yang’s original 85% margin of victory. “You’ve got large holders that have suffered a performance hit due to this deal not working out.”

Broadridge collected votes from its clients and passed them on to Yahoo’s independent election inspector. The final printout sent to the tabulator was truncated, Broadridge said.

Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock won reelection with 60% of the vote, the lowest margin of victory among board members. That was down from the earlier report of 80%. Even after the changes, the directors were all reelected.

Yahoo had faced a proxy fight for control of the board from billionaire investor Carl Icahn. The two sides forged a truce in July, when Yahoo agreed to give board seats to Icahn and two directors he endorsed.

Yahoo shares rose 44 cents, or 2.3%, to $19.82.