Carl Icahn says Microsoft is still in the hunt to acquire Yahoo, but only if the board is replaced, the Wall Street Journal reports. Icahn says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer “made it abundantly clear” to him that he wouldn’t talk with Yahoo’s current board, which he fears will run the company into the ground before antitrust authorities agree to a merger.
Icahn revealed all this in his latest letter to Yahoo shareholders, whom he is trying to convince to replace the current board with a panel of his choosing. If they do, Icahn says he’s confident Microsoft will present a new offer to buy all or part of the company in “very short order.” (More Carl Icahn stories.)