InternetYahoo selects Biondi, Chapple as new board members (AP)

AP - Yahoo Inc. said Thursday it will add the former chief executives of Viacom and Nextel Partners to its board of directors as part of the company's deal to ward off a proxy fight with billionaire investor Carl Icahn.

SEATTLE - Yahoo Inc. said Thursday it will add the former chief executives of Viacom and Nextel Partners to its board of directors as part of the company's deal to ward off a proxy fight with billionaire investor Carl Icahn. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company selected Frank Biondi Jr. and John Chapple, former chief executives of Viacom Inc. and Nextel Partners, respectively, from a list of nine recommendations from Icahn. Icahn, who has a long history of corporate rabble-rousing, had been pressing Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo to renew buyout talks. The New York-based financier acquired 5 percent of Yahoo's shares and spent two months spearheading a campaign to replace the Internet company's entire board after it rejected Microsoft's $47.5 billion takeover bid in May. A showdown with Icahn had been set to culminate in a shareholder vote at Yahoo's Aug. 1 annual meeting, but a truce in late July headed it off. As part of the deal, Icahn got a seat on the board, and Yahoo agreed to name two others backed by the activist investor. To make way for the new directors, Robert Kotick, chief executive of video game maker Activision Blizzard Inc., stepped down after five years on Yahoo's board. None of the three new directors has led a Web company, but together Biondi and Chapple have high-profile content and technology credentials. "Frank's extensive experience in the entertainment and media industries, combined with... [ Read more on www.yahoo.com ]

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InternetPalm Treo Pro Details Leaked on Web Site (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - Yet another vendor has fallen prey to "premature launch syndrome." Yesterday someone at Palm uploaded a text and visual presentation of the Treo Pro to the Palm Web site, and it didn't escape notice. Even though the presentation was pulled just minutes later, pictures and text were dutifully scooped up by bloggers and passed throughout the Net.