Yahoo announced an ad deal with American retail giant Wal-Mart Wednesday, a day after it scheduled a decisive shareholder vote for August 1 on the attempt by billionaire investor Carl Icahn to oust the board and resume takeover negotiations with Microsoft, according to dpa. Financial terms of the Wal-Mart deal were not disclosed. But the agreement for Yahoo to function as the primary sales and marketing channel for the online arm of the world's biggest retailer underscored management claims of Yahoo's untapped potential. Adding to that impression, Yahoo also announced a pact with advertising holding company Havas to cooperate on the development of Yahoo's new AMP platform, which is meant to simplify the process of selling online ads across a wide variety of internet properties. Yahoo also announced an agreement to carry CBS content, such as clips from TV shows, in a move that could help it attract even more web surfers. The announcements come amid an intensifying battle between Yahoo and Icahn, who is trying to oust the board for rejecting Microsoft's 47.5 billion dollar takeover offer early last month. He is proposing a rival slate of board members that would try to restart takeover negotiations with the software giant. Icahn on Tuesday said he would also press for company founder Jerry Yang to step down if he is successful in gaining control of the company. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Icahn said newly unsealed court documents show that Yang and Yahoo's board had not seriously considered the acquisition offer from Microsoft and had imposed a costly employee retention plan to effectively sabotage a deal. "It's no longer a mystery to me why Microsoft's offer isn't around," he said. "How can Yahoo keep saying they're willing to negotiate and sell the company on the one hand, while at the same time they're completely sabotaging the process without telling anyone?" "In my opinion, you might have to get rid of Jerry and part of the board to bring back Microsoft," Icahn told The New York Times. Yahoo rejected Icahn's attack. "Yahoo's board of directors, including Jerry Yang, has been crystal clear that it would consider any proposal by Microsoft that was in the best interests of its shareholders," the company said in a statement. "Mr Icahn's assertions ignore this clear factual record."
