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July 29, 2008, 1:39 pm

Billionaire T. Boone Pickens loses millions on Yahoo gamble

By Yi-Wyn Yen

Oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens has decided he is not going to follow activist billionaire Carl Icahn to the ends of the earth.

Pickens told the San Francisco Chronicle that he has sold his 10 million shares of Yahoo (YHOO) for a loss because he doesn’t believe a sale to Microsoft (MSFT) is happening.

Pickens bought the shares in the hopes that Icahn would succeed in getting Yahoo’s board to agree to a sale to Microsoft. The octogenarian admits he doesn’t know how to “write an email” and decided to blindly follow Icahn’s lead. “He goes in first and I jump in behind him,” Pickens told CNBC in an interview in late May.

Icahn’s plans to sell the tarnished Internet portal to Microsoft for a profit have not succeeded. The corporate agitator launched a proxy campaign in hopes of winning control of Yahoo’s board, but Microsoft has said the company is no longer interested in buying all of Yahoo for $33-a-share. Earlier this month Icahn reached a compromise with Yahoo’s board to forgo his proxy fight in exchange for three seats on Yahoo’s board. Yahoo will holds its annual shareholder meeting on Friday, where investors will vote for an extended 11-member board.

Now that the fight’s over, Pickens has decided to cut his losses. “I think that [the] Yahoo management was pathetic,” Pickens told the Chronicle. Pickens did not say how much he has lost in his activist gamble.

Though the most recent regulatory filings don’t show Pickens’s selloff, it’s likely that Pickens has lost roughly $50 million. He bought his shares in the first few weeks of May when Yahoo was trading between $25-$27. In the past two weeks, Yahoo’s stock has slipped to between $20-$22.

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Filed under Microsoft-Yahoo, Yahoo, microsoft

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50 mill is his payback for bankrolling swiftboat

Posted By dick bohanon,la,ca : August 4, 2008 5:54 pm

T Bone foe prez

Posted By ma : July 30, 2008 3:28 am

And this is news why???

Posted By Rick, LA, CA : July 30, 2008 2:27 am

T Boone Pickens is a very cool guy , knowone wins every match. Atleast he gets to play for real, all you people are just a bunch of lightweights.

Posted By walt ward woodinville, wa. : July 30, 2008 1:43 am

Why do people hate Pickens ? Let me count the ways. He lies and the hob – nobbing MSNBC anchors fall over him to get interviews.This is the guy who paid for the Swift Boat ads – a real patriot !
Now he has put somewhere over a billion into wind energy and he is spending about $50 million in TV ads trying to shame the government into subsidizing his venture something similar to which he enjoys as an oilman. Save us from do gooders with ulterior motives ! Let him go back with his hand out to Yahoo !

Posted By John Brady, Upper Darby, Pa : July 30, 2008 12:34 am

Excerpt from Slate article
http://www.slate.com/id/2159776

Scroll down to Pickens’ 2006 donations of $171.5 million to read the full details.

“Pickens, who is chairman of the new foundation, has said he hopes to give away 80 percent of his fortune, estimated at $2.7 billion, while he is still alive.”

You have to admire anybody that plans to give away that much money in the short lifespan he has left.

Posted By Bryan, Ft Worth, TX : July 30, 2008 12:19 am

Why does everyone hate him? Is it that he has money??? All I know about the man is that yes he has money… big money and at this point in his life he is trying to wake us all up to a big problem.
I think you should all just deal with the fact you (and I) do not and will never see the kind of money that he has and stop throwing stones.

Posted By Pete, Freehold NJ : July 29, 2008 9:52 pm

shoulda just sold otm calls and made 15% on his most of his $ till he got wind a deal was nearing.

Posted By jonslay atlanta, GA : July 29, 2008 9:15 pm

“the best way to hurt rich people…” Why do we want to hurt rich people? Are there other people, besides billionaire’s that we should want to hurt too?

That aside, I wonder how this will affect Mr. Pickens energy policy. Fewer ads maybe?

Posted By Josh, Seattle WA : July 29, 2008 7:33 pm

Pickens bought on PUBLIC knowledge not INSIDER knowledge… you Bone-head.

Posted By James, Pittsburgh, PA : July 29, 2008 5:21 pm

This guy and all of his goofy billionaire friends are so rich they don’t even qualify as part of the human race anymore. Who cares what happens to him. The best way to hurt rich people isn’t to turn them into poor people…it’s to ignore their very existence.

Posted By Jeff E., Tulsa, OK : July 29, 2008 4:59 pm

Did Someone say Cuil? Lol, I doubt that they will even be in the top 10. I tested it and its terrible.

Posted By Hartford, CT : July 29, 2008 4:58 pm

T Boone would have been better off letting the cash go in the wind

Posted By jerry – Chevy chase, MD : July 29, 2008 4:48 pm

oh well next year microsoft will buy yahoo for $20 billion and yahoo will be third behind google and cuil

Posted By macdisser,bronx,newyor : July 29, 2008 4:24 pm

On the bright side, capital loss carryover for a long long time.

Posted By Dave, Kernville, CA : July 29, 2008 4:11 pm

Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

Posted By Carlo Maniacci from L.A. : July 29, 2008 4:09 pm

Sounds like a little insider trading?
Where’s the FTC on this one. Not sure if I was T Boone I would’ve gone public with that info? If he thinks
he’s lost a lot on Yahoo? wait till the windmill things over. DANG!

Posted By Chance, Nashville,TN : July 29, 2008 3:14 pm

Pickens was intersted in a short term gain. He gambled and lost. Yahoo is better off without him.

Posted By Glenn, Minneapolis MN : July 29, 2008 2:52 pm

What is ‘octogarian’?
or do you mean octogenarian?

Yes, fixed it. Thanks. – YY

Posted By gid, Houston, Texas : July 29, 2008 2:49 pm

Bahahahaha!!! Go to Vegas next time you want to lose $50 million, it’s a lot more fun.

Posted By Tom Brown, New York, NY : July 29, 2008 2:44 pm

T-Boone neens to keep playing the Oil game, or is it Wind Mills now!!!

Posted By Vin, Atlanta, GA : July 29, 2008 2:37 pm

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