YAHOO! PREZ $TOCKING UP
Yahoo! President Sue Decker isn’t afraid to put her money where her mouth is.
Decker drew attention after loading up on more than $1 million in company stock just one day after Yahoo!’s shares fell to $22.44 – their lowest level since March 2004.
Analysts took it as a vote of confidence, with JPMorgan analyst Imran Khan calling it “evidence of increasing management confidence in company performance.”
The big buy is also bound to fuel speculation that Yahoo! is a buyout target.
Earlier this year, Microsoft expressed interest in a tie-up but was rebuffed.
Although Yahoo! remains the most popular Web portal, the company is losing ground to Google in search while its advertising growth lags rivals.
Yahoo! introduced its new search ad system, dubbed Panama, earlier this year.
Although the company claims it has exceeded expectations, analysts argue it hasn’t delivered much in the way of results.
Yahoo! announced a shake-up in June when co-founder Jerry Yang took over as chief executive, replacing long-time CEO Terry Semel.
As part of the overhaul, Decker, previously an executive vice president who headed Yahoo!’s advertiser and publisher group, became president.
Decker spent $1.1 million to buy 47,000 shares over two days, bringing her personal stake to 424,700 shares, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The big buy stood out for a couple of reasons, according to InsiderScore, which tracks insider buying and selling.
It was Decker’s first “open market stock purchase. The majority of her stock holdings have been restricted stock awards,” the firm wrote in a research note.
The buy was just the fourth by any Yahoo! insider in more than four years and the largest by any insider in that same time period, InsiderScore said.
