SearchEngineUpdate with Vanessa Zamora - 06-11-2008 Part I
Abstract: 1. Carl Icahn Backed Into A Corner By Yahoo, 2. Google’s Sergey Brin Secures His Spot To Space, 3. Google Trends Update, Now Downloadable
Vanessa Zamora
Video Content Producer, SearchEngineWorld
5:12 pm on June 11, 2008 (utc 0)
Transcript
Wednesday June 11, 2008
Carl Icahn Backed Into A Corner By Yahoo
Billionaire Investor Carl Icahn, may be stuck between a rock and a hard place so to speak, in his attempt to take control of the Yahoo board, that if successful would trigger a severance plan that Icahn has called excessively expensive, costing an estimated $2.4 billion according to Icahn. Yahoo, in a letter to employees, said that the figure was taken out of context and cited estimates of $514 million or $845 million instead. The severance plan, which applies to some employees in the case of a change in control, is structured to remain intact while under a proxy challenge. Corporate-governance lawyers said that severance provisions such as Yahoo's, put in place in February after Microsoft made an unsolicited bid for Yahoo, are common among companies facing potential unwanted acquirers.
Virginia-based company Space Adventures may have recruited Google co-founder and president of technology at Google Sergey Brin as one of three passengers set to take flight on its Russian Soyuz rocket destined for International Space Station, most likely in 2011. Space Adventures plans to announce the flight and Brin's participation in a news conference today at the Explorers Club in New York. How much does this little adventure cost? It starts with a $5 million investment Brin made in the company, that serves as a deposit for the future flight.
Google has updated its Google Trends product used to determine how popular certain search terms are across geographic regions, cities, and languages. The latest update now lets users download underlying numerical data to a spreadsheet for analysis and viewing of particular search terms relative to others or alone. The functions are accessible by signing into a Google account.
