Web Warrior
By
The Editors
NAME Eric Jackson
AGE 34
DAY JOB President, Jackson Leadership
MBA Columbia 1999
Activist Hedge Fund Relational shelled out $1 billion for a 1.2 percent stake in Home Depot in order to oust CEO Robert Nardelli. Eric Jackson spent much less—about $1,300 for 45 shares—to turn the screws on Yahoo!’s fumbling CEO Terry Semel, noodging him to resign. Jackson launched his campaign in late 2006, when he started a blog dissing the Internet giant’s sagging stock price and fuzzy business plan.
He was overwhelmed with the response from Yahoo! shareholders and immediately elevated to stockholder-in-chief. While continuing to do his day job—as president of Jackson Leadership, consulting with companies about their executive leadership plans—he built support for the cause in his spare time, even talking with institutional investors. “I tried different tactics to capture attention,” says Jackson. “A YouTube short of myself issuing a call to arms to other shareholders, Jackson in Naples, Florida, with his trusty laptop formulating a Plan B for Yahoo! on a wiki site where other dissidents could add their thoughts,” says Jackson. Since that opening volley, he enlisted the support of 100 Yahoo! stockholders with just under 2.1 million shares worth more than $60 million.
“We presented our final Plan B to Yahoo!’s board of directors in June,” says Jackson. It was one element in helping to topple the CEO that same month. “When enough small shareholders gather together on the web to shine a spotlight on management,” says Jackson, “the big guys have to pay attention.” Or jump ship.
MBA Jungle, Aug./Sept. 2008