Icahn gets a strong reply from Yahoo’s chairman

Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock lashed out against Carl Icahn late Wednesday, a common feature which can be seen in politics, to prove wrong the accusations made by the billionaire investors earlier in the day.

Mr. Bostock said that Mr. Icahn lacked any plan other than selling Yahoo to Microsoft, even though Microsoft has been clear that it is no longer interested in buying Yahoo.

Mr. Bostock also said that Mr. Icahn’s attack was based on “a series of unsubstantiated allegations from a complaint filed in a Delaware court which grossly misstate the very clear record and position established by the Yahoo Board.”

In a letter, Mr. Bostock took issue with Mr. Icahn’s view that an employee retention plan put in place by Yahoo amounted to a “poison pill.” “The retention plan is intended to help us preserve and enhance shareholder value by allowing Yahoo! to continue to attract and retain the industry’s best talent and to allow employees to stay focused on implementing Yahoo’s business strategy,” he wrote.

“Conspicuously absent from your letter is any credible plan for Yahoo other than a repetition of your insistence that the Company should sell itself to Microsoft,” Mr. Bostock also wrote. “Indeed, your stated view that ‘the only way to salvage Yahoo in the long if not short run is to merge with Microsoft’ demonstrates that you have no other plan and causes one to wonder what exactly would happen to our Company if you and your nominees were to take control of Yahoo.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Icahn was making the rounds of the business news shows on television, where he repeated his attack on Yahoo’s board.

One can expect to see a lot more accusations flying between the two sides as the campaign for election to Yahoo’s board is in full swing. Unless, of course, Yahoo and Microsoft agree to a merger before Yahoo’s Aug. 1 shareholder meeting.