Blow to Icahn: Proxy Loss Triggers Yahoo (YHOO) Severance Bonanza. When Will Carl Give Up and Sell? [Silicon Alley Insider]

Add this to the list of reasons we won't be voting for Carl Icahn's Yahoo (YHOO) slate: If he wins the proxy contest, this will trigger the massive severance-bonus plan Yahoo put in place to fight off Microsoft. This will ensure that whatever management moves Carl's new board makes will cost shareholders a ton of money and put Yahoo even more behind the eight ball.

(Yahoo's executives can't just quit and take the package. But our understanding is executives can resign for "good reason," which leaves a lot of wiggle room. And, if nothing else, the package will make it more expensive for Carl's new CEO to fire a lot of Yahoos, which we suspect would be one of his or her first moves.)

As some readers have pointed out, it's not our vote that matters is Icahn v Yahoo, but the votes of huge shareholders such as Gordie Crawford (Capital Research and Management) and Bill Miller (Legg Mason). After blasting Jerry Yang and Yahoo's board for blowing the Microsoft deal, Gordie has been mum. Bill, meanwhile, has been trimming his position. If we had to guess, we imagine that Gordie and Bill are likely thinking along the same lines we are. Namely:

• Carl Icahn has no real plan for Yahoo other than selling to Microsoft
• This weak negotiating position would likely lead to a takeout in the high-$20s, if that.

Carl says he wants to recruit a new CEO. We think Jerry's actually doing an okay job playing the crappy hand he was dealt, so we're going to need more detail than "fire Jerry" before we get excited about that. Carl also says if Microsoft won't buy the company, he'll run to Google and do a search deal. This is exactly what Yahoo is trying to do now, so, again, we don't see the need to hire Carl's team (at great cost) to do it.

Bottom line? We think Carl Icahn is going to lose this proxy fight. We think he'll probably soon conclude the same thing (if he hasn't already), which means he'll likely want to start unwinding some of his position (which is--or was--mostly options). If Carl bails, so will his hedge fund friends--Boone Pickens, Dan Loeb, John Paulson, et al. This will put even more pressure on the stock.

Giving up privacy to reduce friction [Babbling VC]

I couldn't agree more with Mike Arrington on his post regarding social networks on mobile devices. Whether he coined the phrase used as my title remains open but when I read it in one of his responses in the comments section to above mentioned post I wanted to link to it. In essence, what social networks on mobiles do is exactly that: remove friction from the social interaction process. I have written multiple times in the past about how I believe social interaction needs to be facilitated by technology. Making social networks easily available on the phone is exactly the key step in this direction. Mike also correctly notes that younger generations are more than happy to sacrifice privacy to make meeting people easier. Dating sites have proven this. 10 years ago, if you were outed as using a dating site, you were labeled a loser. Now I'd bet a large proportion of folks are meeting online. A lot of "friction" has disappeared and people are doing it. I also often have noted how Twitter is making finding people in the real world easier via a simple service.  It's so incredibly simple that there is hardly any barrier to use. Friction again is removed and you can see how successful Twitter has become. One caveat to all this is that a lot of these applications helping to facilitate the removal of friction are still only used by geeks. Further, only dating seems to have gone mainstream. MySpace and Facebook seem to be asleep at the wheel when it comes to truly taking advantage of the opportunity. And the carriers are trying to milk any and every opportunity before driving further innovation so don't bet on them. This means that it may take some time until your average user is standing in a bar, pinging the hot girl he sees both in front of him (physical features) and on his device (details about this person). I think the iPhone can play a role but it has to go beyond the iPhone. Again this will take time but seeing some of the success of Aki Aki and many other start-ups in this space gives me hope.

I couldn't agree more with Mike Arrington on his post regarding social networks on mobile devices. Whether he coined the phrase used as my title remains open but when I read it in one of his responses in the comments...

Foundry Group Themes [Feld Thoughts]

Over the past few months we've been posting about the "themes" we invest in at Foundry Group over on our Foundry Group blog.  I thought - with the most recent announcement of our investment in Smith & Tinker (our most recent human computer interaction (HCI) investment) - it was worth reviewing our current themes.

For a view on how we think about themes, start with our post What Is "Thematic Investing?"  We then cover four of our current themes:

• Human Computer Interaction
• Implicit Web
• Glue
• Digital Life

We also put up a post titled Did Darwin Skip Over Email? explaining our desire to find another investment on our long standing theme around email (and SMTP).  We are also continuing to scour the world for RSS-related stuff (yes - we love protocols - ad hoc or otherwise).

While we don't limit ourselves to only investing in these themes, we rarely wander outside them and will usually only do so with someone we've worked with in the past.  We are always working on a set of new top secret themes that intrigue us.  Some of these will see the light of day; others won't.  In all cases, they keep our brains busy.

Fail Harder [Feld Thoughts]

A reader (thanks Austin) sent me two great failure links today.  The first is from BoingBoing and is titled J.K. Rowling on the power of failure.  It's an excellent short segment from her excellent Harvard Commencement Address titled The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination.

The next is a sign made entirely out of push pins that says "Fail Harder".

I spent the afternoon at TechStars meeting with five of the ten teams.  They are all dynamite, although some of them will fail at their current incarnation.  Just remember - fail hard, fast, and then get up and try again. 

Transaction Costs Are Subjective [HighContrast]

Jason Shellen and I are in NYC for John Battelle’s conversational marketing summit and a number of Plinky-related meetings. We grabbed a quick lunch in-between meetings at a small sandwich shop in SoHo where I saw the following sign:

Beyond the bad grammar, the most interesting aspect to me was that someone would find it easier/better to make all the changes and leave the sign as opposed to print and post a new one.

This brings me to a comment Rory Sutherland made a few months ago as we were discussing a startup idea. His comment was that transaction costs are subjective. Consider the example of asking someone who has just purchased a digital camera to register it. Some people may prefer to send in a postcard. Others may prefer to call an 800 number. Yet others may prefer to register the camera on the Web. To the folks in the coffee shop, the cost of printing a new notice was clearly too high.

When you ask a customer to do something, keep in mind that transaction costs are subjective and what is easy for some to do may be perceived as difficult by others. It is not always easy to provide multiple ways to do a task that are simple and easy to follow but it is well-worth thinking about how to do it.

Jason Shellen and I are in NYC for John Battelle’s conversational marketing summit and a number of Plinky-related meetings. We grabbed a quick lunch in-between meetings at a small sandwich shop in SoHo where I saw the following sign: Beyond the bad grammar, the most interesting aspect to me was that someone would find it easier/better to [...]

WSJ, IAC (Finally) Launch FiLife Personal Finance Site [Silicon Alley Insider]

As promised (several times), Dow Jones/News Corp and IAC have finally launched FiLife, a personal finance portal/service site that's been more than a year in the making.

The site had a very soft launch last summer, but until now has really just been a fairly sparse blog, directed at youngish people thinking about money for the first time in their lives. Behind the scenes, there has been some turmoil, as Rupert Murdoch bought Dow Jones, staffers have left the JV, and ultimately the site has shifted strategy: Rather than focus on generating lots of content on its own, it's going to be primarily a portal, funded by display ads and lead generation.

So what will look like? FiLife president Dave Kansas, a veteran of the TheStreet.com and the Journal, gave us a quick tour. The primary come-ons are the site's 8 "stackers" -- fairly simple engines that compare your salary, house value, credit score, etc to the general population's, then offer advice.

You can tweak the results to some degree: Tell the site that your home's worth $350,000, and it informs you that it's worth more than 70% of the homes in the U.S.; tell it that you live in the 10011 area code, and it will tell you that by Chelsea/Greenwich Village standards, you live in a hovel. But you knew that already.

This is sort of interesting, but at first glance, not terribly useful: As one offs, none of those metrics mean that much, plus the site is missing some important ones (401k/savings, for instance). Dave says the stacks will get more comprehensive and sophisticated over time. But they're not supposed to replace a financial planner. They're meant to be come-ons to lure the site's potential audience: youngish "folks who've spent lots of time on the Internet, but less time looking at their wallet."

Those who do come will be exposed to a combination of pro advice (via articles from Dow Jones pubs like the WSJ and Barron's) and use-gen stuff (a forum that aspires to the be the TripAdvisor for financial services). The lead-gen stuff, presumably, comes from the site's "FiDeals" sections, which we saw the least of. Dave assures us that the site won't favor IAC products, like LendingTree, in any way.

Check it out, and tell us what you think. And in the meantime, we'll offer the free, sage advice of our own Henry Blodget (which echoes most sober financial pros):

Don't listen to a word of 24/7 bombardment of advice pumped out of Wall Street and the financial media. Just buy low-cost index funds. Over your lifetime, this will save you an astonishing amount of money, anxiety, and time.

SomaLogic + Otsuka = Early Detection + Diagnosis [Colorado Life Science Deal Flow]

Otsuka Pharmaceutical entered into a collaboration agreement to use SomaLogic’s proprietary aptamer technology to discover and develop novel diagnostic products and to design research tools that will enhance Otsuka’s discovery and development efforts.

SomaLogic will receive research funding and will be entitled to receive a royalty on any marketed products developed as a result of the collaboration. Otsuka also received an option to acquire distribution rights in Asia for certain SomaLogic clinical diagnostics products. In addition, SomaLogic received an equity investment from Otsuka. Other financial terms were not disclosed. Finally, note that SomaLogic is hiring! Take a look (HERE).

*NOTE* Feel the power of the Colorado BioScience Association (HERE)!
*NOTE* Take a look at the new Boulder Biotech Company Tree (HERE)!
*NOTE* Read the new eBook CLSDF 2007 - What's In A Year? (HERE)!

If you enjoyed this post get free email or RSS updates (here).

QLT Reaches $140M Agreement with Allergan [Colorado Life Science Deal Flow]

QLT, Inc. (NASDAQ: QLTI) announced that QLT USA, its wholly-owned subsidiary, has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Allergan (NYSE: AGN) to fully divest QLT’s worldwide rights to Aczone®, a prescription topical medicine approved in the United States and Canada for the treatment of acne vulgaris. Under the terms of the agreement, QLT will receive a one-time cash payment of approximately $140M, and is expected to close in 3Q08.

The Aczone® asset purchase agreement is the second agreement entered into by the Company to divest non-core assets since it announced its strategic restructuring earlier this year. Other assets offered for sale from QLT USA include Eligard® and the Atrigel® drug delivery system.


Otsuka Pharmaceutical entered into a collaboration agreement to use SomaLogic’s proprietary aptamer technology to discover and develop novel diagnostic products and to design research tools that will enhance Otsuka’s discovery and development efforts.

SomaLogic will receive research funding and will be entitled to receive a royalty on any marketed products developed as a result of the collaboration. Otsuka also received an option to acquire distribution rights in Asia for certain SomaLogic clinical diagnostics products. In addition, SomaLogic received an equity investment from Otsuka. Other financial terms were not disclosed. Finally, note that SomaLogic is hiring! Take a look (HERE).

*NOTE* Feel the power of the Colorado BioScience Association (HERE)!
*NOTE* Take a look at the new Boulder Biotech Company Tree (HERE)!
*NOTE* Read the new eBook CLSDF 2007 - What's In A Year? (HERE)!

If you enjoyed this post get free email or RSS updates (here).

Another perspective on the iPhone [bijan sabet]

My colleague Rob Go has just written a post “Please Convince Me to Get an iPhone”.

It’s clear that I’m getting one but Rob isn’t convinced and I’m sure he’s not alone when he asks:

“Maybe I’m too simple minded, but what I really care about is:

1. Does email and calendaring work seamlessly?

2. Can I type quickly and accurately?

3. Can I live with just one device in my pocket?”

So what do you think? Does Rob have a point? Head over to his tumblelog and leave him a comment or reblog his post with your thoughts.

Apple's Steve Jobs WWDC Keynote, 1 Minute Version [Silicon Alley Insider]

For those who missed the live one...

July 11th, Really? [McInblog]

I've been eagerly awaiting the 3G iPhone for some time, and was mostly pleased with the new features, but the July 11th release date was a bit of a drag, as I'm no good with the whole delayed-gratification thing. Besides the higher data speeds and third party apps, the feature I'm most excited about is Exchange integration, given our shop at Foundry Group uses Exchange for our calendar, contacts and messaging. Oh, geotagging of photos is pretty damn cool as well.

But since I cannot truly be satisfied by what's currently available and am always looking around the corner, I might as well complain a bit. The iPhone needs a better camera -- with Samsung and others shipping 5 megapixel camera phones, the fact that Apple didn't bump up the pixel count beyond two paltry megapixels on the 3G iPhone was disappointing. As is the ongoing lack of ability to record video, though I'm hopeful this can be addressed in a future software upgrade and won't require another hardware rev. The late-breaking rumors of a front-facing camera for video conferencing were also intriguing, so that was another unfulfilled item on my wishlist. And, finally, I'd be more than happy to pay a premium for more storage, and I was really hoping for a 32GB capacity model. Looks like I'll have to wait until 2009 to get those wishes fulfilled.

Despite my bitching, I'll be in line on July 11th to get the new iPhone - it will still be (by far) the coolest phone out there.

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