Gawker: valleywag, bobby kotick

Nearly 1 in 5 Yahoo investors followed Valleywag's voting instructions

Owen Thomas — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:20:00 EDT

There's some kerfuffle about the voting in Yahoo's board election — something to do with whether some large investor voted or not. We don't care! What really pleases us is that the four board members we suggested get the boot — Roy Bostock, Art Kern, Ron Burkle, and Gary Wilson — scored the lowest in the vote.

Yahoo's failure-prone four had between 18.2 and 22.1 percent of shareholders withhold their votes for reelection. Board members who met with Valleywag's approval — Eric Hippeau, Vyomesh Joshi, Bobby Kotick, and Maggie Wilderotter — scored between 7.1 and 9.3 percent. Only in corporate America would a passive-aggressive move like declining to vote be deemed "activist." All the same, to those shareholders who sat this one out, we thank you for your fealty.

Valleywag spots secret Yahoo conclave at D6

Owen Thomas — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:20:00 EDT

CARLSBAD, CA — On stage at D6, Sue Decker couldn't offer any explanation why she was qualified to be president of Yahoo. But if you ask Valleywag, she's doing a bang-up job of pursuing Yahoo's strategy of embracing openness. For example, by holding a meeting within camera-lens length of Valleywag in the Four Seasons Lobby Lounge. Our eye was first drawn by Yahoo Media Group chief Scott Moore's blindingly colorful Madras shirt; we then saw he was sitting with Decker. Two of the other participants: Gordon McLeod and Matthew Goldberg, business-side executives at Dow Jones, which means they were likely discussing some kind of news-content partnership between Yahoo and the Wall Street Journal. I'd thought I spooted Brad Garlinghouse, the Yahoo executive who wrote the famous "Peanut Butter Memo," in the group, but I'm told he wasn't there. I later spotted him strolling down the halls with Yahoo board member Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision. More pictures of the meeting:

Paula Abdul to get her game on at D6 conference

Owen Thomas — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:00:00 EDT

CARLSBAD, CA — The hot gossip this morning at the Wall Street Journal's D6 conference: American Idol judge Paula Abdul, seen here in the video for "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow," is in the building. My bet: something to do with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick's appearance, since his company's music game, Guitar Hero, was advertised heavily on the show's final week. Could a new American Idol videogame — one that's not utterly horrible, like the one released last year — be on deck? Update: A tipster inside the ballroom reports:

Lame lame lame Guitar Hero world tour demo ... Paula Abdul is judge

So much for that theory!