Oilman Pickens Throws in With Icahn in Fight to Control Yahoo

Carl Icahn's proxy bid to replace Yahoo’s board won the backing of legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens yesterday, reports the Wall Street Journal, but without a firm offer from Microsoft to acquire Yahoo the effort could still struggle. "I'll jump in with Carl. He goes in first, I jump in behind him," Pickens told CNBC.

Icahn also has other backing, but Yahoo doesn’t believe he has enough votes to override co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo's 10% of shares and shareholder support. Microsoft meanwhile, says it no longer wants Yahoo, just parts of it, reports Reuters. “We are not bidding to buy Yahoo,” said CEO Steve Ballmer. (More Yahoo stories.)