Yahoo! strategy to avoid takeover
Published: 02 Mar 2001 09:34 GMT
Leading Web portal Yahoo! has adopted a shareholder rights plan to deter a hostile takeover, the company said last night.
Yahoo!'s shares have plunged nearly 90 percent from their one-year high, possibly making the company an attractive takeover candidate for a company seeking to buy a massive presence on the Web. However, Yahoo! said the rights plan was not "adopted in response to any effort to acquire control of Yahoo!".
"The rights plan is designed to deter coercive takeover tactics, including the accumulation of shares in the open market or through private transactions and to prevent an acquirer from gaining control of Yahoo! without offering a fair and adequate price and terms to all of Yahoo!'s stockholders," the company said in a statement.
Yahoo! shares closed Thursday at $24.44 (£16.72), well below their 52-week high of $205.62 (£140.66). The company has a market capitalisation of about $13bn (£8.89), compared with more than $100bn (£68bn) when its shares peaked at a split-adjusted $237.50 (£162.4bn) on 3 January last year.
Under the plan, Yahoo! shareholders will have the right to buy "one unit of a share" of preferred stock for $250 (£171) if a person or group acquires at least 15 percent of the company's stock. The rights apply to shareholders of record as of 20 March, 2001 and expire 1 March, 2011.
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