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Yahoo investors got a taste Wednesday of the Yahoo-Carl Icahn dog fight. Next up--the dog-and-pony show.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn and Yahoo, embroiled in a proxy fight, will be taking their respective fix-it strategy messages on the investor road show circuit once they file their definitive proxies with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These investor road shows will be crucial, as both parties seek to woo investors to vote for their opposing slate of Yahoo board members.

Yahoo declined to comment on when it will be filing its finalized proxy, and Icahn did not return calls for comment. But proxy … Read more

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is in a bit of a conundrum.

On Wednesday, in a letter sent to Yahoo's chairman, Icahn called on Yahoo's board of directors to rescind the company's controversial employee severance plans, fearing it was an impediment to a Microsoft buyout deal.

But as reported Tuesday, Icahn's proxy fight is what's keeping the controversial severance plans in play.

Icahn's proxy fight is considered a "potential change in control," which means Yahoo's board can't voluntarily remove the severance plans, attorneys say.

So, what are his options?

A. Give … Read more

Editor's note: Updated on June 4, Wednesday, at 3:06 p.m. PDT with comments from Carl Icahn during an interview on CNBC.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who is waging a proxy fight with Yahoo, sent a letter to Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock on Wednesday. Here's his letter in its entirety:

Roy Bostock Chairman Yahoo! Inc. 701 First Avenue Sunnyvale, CA 94089

Dear Mr. Bostock:

I have long been cynical about the effectiveness of many of the boards and CEOs in this country and as a result the inability of our companies to compete. I have constantly complained … Read more

Updated at 8:09 p.m. PDT with more information on the proxy contest.

Yahoo announced Tuesday it will hold its annual shareholders meeting on August 1, setting the stage for a contentious proxy battle with billionaire shareholder Carl Icahn.

The shareholders meeting will be held at 10 a.m. PDT at The Fairmont hotel in San Jose, Calif.

Yahoo will be asking its shareholders to re-elect its current board of nine directors, while Icahn is challenging the board with his own slate of dissident directors.

Icahn, at the time he filed his preliminary proxy, said he felt the current … Read more

Updated: 5:15 p.m. PDT with annual meeting announcement.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn plans to seek the ouster of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, should his dissident slate of directors gain control of Yahoo's board, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Icahn previously has centered his comments on removing Yahoo's board of directors, of which Yang is one of nine members who are up for re-election to a one-year term, when the next annual shareholders meeting is held.

Yahoo announced later in the day that it planned to hold its annual shareholders meeting on August … Read more

Editor's note: This story was updated June 3, Tuesday, 2:41 p.m. PDT to include additional information and comments from an attorney representing investors in a shareholders' lawsuit against Yahoo.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn's proxy fight could trigger Yahoo's controversial "change in control" severance package, should his dissident slate win a majority of the board seats up for re-election, attorneys say.

That could throw a potential hurdle in Icahn's efforts to get his slate elected, in essence by potentially punishing any investor who votes to remove Yahoo's current board. The severance plans, … Read more

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has been relatively quiet since unveiling his slate of dissident directors to run against Yahoo's current board nearly two weeks ago.

Is the agitator of corporate America and merger matchmaker beginning to believe Microsoft won't come back to the table with another bid for Yahoo? Should investors be concerned?

"If Icahn hasn't turned up the heat a few weeks before Yahoo holds its (annual shareholders) meeting, I think shareholders will begin to wonder what's going on," said Chris Young, director of mergers and acquisitions research for RiskMetrics Group, an influential … Read more

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer made a few revealing comments Friday while speaking at a technology conference in Moscow.

The take-away from his speech, according to a Reuters report: Microsoft never viewed its proposed acquisition of Yahoo as strategic.

In other words, Redmond was prepared to pay tens of billions of dollars for a non-strategic acquisition? An acquisition that would, by far, be the largest in its history? Very interesting comments, indeed.

Here are Ballmer's exact words, per Reuters:

"Yahoo was never the strategy we were pursuing, it was a way to accelerate our online advertising business," … Read more

Yahoo investors who feel their hands are tied while sitting on the sidelines of a potential Microsoft-Yahoo search transaction may find a crack in the door to weigh in on the deal, legal experts say.

That crack, albeit small, could give Yahoo shareholders the right to vote on whether the Internet search pioneer would be able to sell its search business, say legal experts.

Under Section 271 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, companies are required to seek shareholder approval for any sale of "all or substantially all" of the corporation assets.

The "substantially all" is … Read more