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Influential US investor T. Boone Pickens told a major California newspaper that he has dumped millions of shares of Yahoo stock at a loss.
In a San Francisco Chronicle interview, the billionaire said Yahoo executives' handling of failed takeover talks with Microsoft was "pathetic" and that he is tired of waiting for a deal to come together.
Pickens did not disclose how much money he lost speculating on a Yahoo-Microsoft tie-up but the price of Yahoo shares has slipped several dollars since May, the month Pickens says he acquired the shares.
Pickens' slam against Yahoo comes shortly before an annual gathering of the California firm's shareholders on Friday in the Silicon Valley city of San Jose.
Investors that share Pickens' frustration are expected to blast Yahoo executives at the meeting.
Pickens said he was following the lead of corporate raider Carl Icahn when he invested in Yahoo stock.
Icahn bought up nearly five per cent of Yahoo's stock earlier this year and launched a campaign to overthrow board members he accuses of botching tie-up talks with US software giant Microsoft.
Last week Yahoo struck a truce with Icahn, ending his fight to oust the struggling Internet pioneer's board.
Yahoo said it will give the famous corporate raider and two of his allies seats on its board of directors in exchange for Icahn withdrawing a slate of nominees he was backing to replace the incumbents at Friday's meeting.
Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion in stock and cash on January 31 but withdrew its offer on May 3, saying Yahoo refused to budge despite a bid sweetened to nearly $50 billion.
Yahoo later revived talks with Microsoft, with Yahoo rejecting an offer to acquire only its search business and Microsoft saying it is no longer interested in buying all of Yahoo.
Microsoft wanted to buy Yahoo to better battle Google, which claims the lion's share of the multibillion-dollar Internet search and advertising market.
