Click to enlarge

The surprisingly positive results of last Friday's Yahoo shareholder vote prompted Capital Research Global Investors to demand a recount, after which the group discovered that the proxy voting intermediary made "significant errors," reports Mediapost.
The first tally showed 85 percent of shareholders in favor of CEO Jerry Yang and 79 percent in favor of Chairman Roy Bostock. But the revised tally reflects a different story: 33.7 percent of votes for Yang and 40 percent for Bostock "withheld," meaning the landslide support initially cited is actually more of a slight incline. The recount also revealed stronger opposition against several other directors, including Ron Burkle (38 percent) and Arthur Kern (32 percent).

Henry Blodget of Silicon Alley Insider noted Yahoo probably would have double-checked the figures if results fell 19 points the other way, which would have pushed Yang and Bostock out the door.

The negative vote "doesn't change anything," said an RBC Capital Markets analyst, because the recast numbers were still insufficient to move management out — but they underscore a sorry truth: Yahoo's current board still lacks the faith and support of a significant number of shareholders.