Dear Yahoo: So Sorry About the Icahn Thing

Kevin Maney sympathizes: Poor Yahoo. It now has Carl Icahn -- whose record shows him to be something of a human stinkbomb inside companies blessed with his deep involvement -- officially on its board.

Let's see, what other companies has Icahn put his hands of cement on over the years? RJR Nabisco. TWA. Texaco. Marshall Field. USX. They're all doing so well, aren't they? Wait -- let me look them up and see which ones even still exist.

How about his companies that are more like Yahoo -- more in this media and tech kind of field? Ah, he bought a chunk of Time Warner and tried to get it split up. (Didn't happen -- hard to say whether Time Warner's better or worse off for staying intact.) There's Blockbuster, a dying bricks-and-mortar video renter that just dropped its boneheaded attempt to buy Circuit CIty. There's Motorola, which, thanks in part to Icahn's interference, is watching its handset division circle the drain. He's even involved in Las Vegas' Stratosphere hotel and casino, which is such an also-ran it commands room rates these days of about $45 a night.

Whew. Bet Google hopes Carl imparts some of his management wisdom on Yahoo.

Oh -- a warning for Take Two Interactive, makers of the Grand Theft Auto videogames and one of Icahn's more recent stock purchases: You might be next. Especially if you keep telling people the hostile offer from Electronic Arts "undervalues the company."