Carl Icahn is ready for battle.
With today the deadline for nominating candidates to Yahoo!’s board, the billionaire agitator plans to move forward with his own slate of directors that includes a former Hollywood mogul, sources said.
According to these people, Icahn has enlisted his old friend Frank Biondi as a nominee. Biondi, the former CEO of Viacom, HBO and Universal Studios, is no stranger to Icahn’s proxy battles, having been a candidate for board positions at both Time Warner and Motorola when Icahn had those companies in his sights.
“Frank and Carl are quite comfortable with each other,” one source said.
Two additional sources close to Icahn said that he has retained proxy solicitor D.F. King as well.
A representative for D.F. King yesterday declined to comment on its involvement with Icahn.
Icahn did not return numerous calls for comment.
In the battle over Yahoo!, Icahn took center stage after he reportedly amassed a $1.3 billion position in the Jerry Yang-led company not long after Microsoft pulled its $44 billion offer.
Starting a proxy battle is not without its risks.
Sources said yesterday that Icahn has still not received a guarantee from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer or anyone else that Microsoft will come back and buy Yahoo! if the Internet giant’s board is overtaken.
Absent a deal, Icahn – who started a blog in January but has yet to make a single post – would be left holding a large chunk of one of the nation’s largest Internet brands.
Yahoo! shareholders seem to be welcoming Icahn’s involvement.
The company’s shares gained again yesterday, reaching as high as $27.65 in after-hours trading on investor hopes that Icahn will use his stake in Yahoo! to compel it into a transaction, mimicking what he did with BEA Systems.
In that deal, Icahn used his BEA stake to exert pressure on the company to merge with Oracle Systems. However, Icahn did not launch a proxy fight in that particular case.
Sources said that Icahn – who moonlights as a comedian and often draws on his proxy battles for material – has already used his position to get an audience with Yahoo!’s board.
According to people familiar with the matter, the mercurial money man had a conversation with Yahoo!’s directors earlier this week, though the exact nature of the discussion was unclear.
Capital Research & Management, which owns roughly 16 percent of Yahoo!, has indicated it would support a slate of directors to replace the board as long as long as Microsoft remains interested in buying Yahoo!.