The Yahoo deal seems to have found new takers but Icahn seems to still find the Yahoo boards actions of late, quite disappointing. Icahn, the dissident thorn in Yahoo’s backside, has grudgingly admitted that the deal, which Yahoo signed recently with Google may contain some merit.

The Yahoo deal has transformed itself from a takeover bid to one of partnership with one major difference, the partner is Google rather than Microsoft. Icahn, has been heavily criticizing Yahoo for not having taken the Microsoft deal which would have seen the company valued at $47.5 bn. But this deal with Google is equally lucrative if not more, at least in the long term. It is basically a search advertising deal that is currently limited to the North American markets. It is primed to target local advertising thus providing the advertisers more performance with regard to their ads.

It is a 10-year deal that comes with an interesting divorce clause, that being, that in case Yahoo is acquired or if the majority of the Yahoo board is replaced during the shareholder meeting on August 1st, the deal can be terminated. This clause was pretty much designed at preventing Icahn from throwing a spanner in the works. Carl Icahn was at a loss of words when asked if he would stop the proxy battle against Yahoo. But knowing him, one can be sure that he would not be silent for long.