(Updates stock price in fourth paragraph and adds Yahoo declining to comment in fifth paragraph.)
By Scott Morrison Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SAN FRANCISCO -(Dow Jones)- Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has raised his stake in Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) to 5.5%, raising speculation the troubled Internet company might be close to naming a new chief executive.
Icahn, who became a Yahoo director after threatening to oust the entire board earlier this year, bought almost 7 million additional shares of the Internet company this week, according to regulatory filings.
He spent almost $67 million to buy 6.8 million shares, at an average of $9.92 each, to increase his stake to 75.6 million shares, or nearly 5.5% of the company, according to the filings.
In late trading following a shortened regular session Friday, Yahoo shares were unchanged at $11.51. The shares rose 8.8% in regular hours.
Yahoo is looking for a new CEO after embattled co-founder Jerry Yang announced earlier this month he would resign the position as soon as the board finds a successor. A source within Yahoo had said earlier the company hopes to name Yang's replacement in the first quarter of 2009. Yahoo wasn't immediately available to comment on Friday.
Yahoo declined to comment on Icahn's increased stake.
Yang, who will remain on the board, had been under tremendous pressure to turn Yahoo around after he rejected a $33 per share takeover offer from software giant Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) earlier this year.
Icahn has been a leading advocate for change at Yahoo and has repeatedly suggested the company ought to sell all or part of itself to the software giant, a move that Yahoo's leaders strongly resisted. Yahoo instead tried to pull off a deal with Google Inc. (GOOG), but that agreement fell apart over regulatory concerns.
Yahoo, once the leader in online advertising, has been losing share in the Internet search market to Google, and it has been unable to make as much money per search as its larger rival. Yahoo also has been hit hard by the weakening economy because it is more heavily exposed to the slumping online display advertising market.
-By Scott Morrison, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-6118; scott.morrison@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 28, 2008 14:36 ET (19:36 GMT)

Publié le 28 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones