Yahoo to allow proxy access for board nominations

Yahoo Inc will allow investors who have held stake of at least 3 percent in the struggling Internet company for a minimum of three years to nominate directors to its board.

The company amended its bylaws to allow these investors to nominate up to 20 percent of its board, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

Yahoo joins several companies including Apple Inc , AT&T Inc , Staples Inc and Citigroup Inc in adopting new "proxy access" rules that make it easier for shareholders or groups of shareholders to nominate board candidates.

"Proxy access" is shareholders` ability to nominate directors to run against a company`s chosen slate of director nominees using its annual meeting materials.

Activist investor Starboard Value LP, which owns about 1.7 percent of Yahoo, launched a proxy fight last week to overthrow the company`s nine-member board.

Yahoo, under pressure from shareholders to sell its core business, began an auction of the business last month after shelving plans to spin off its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd .

Yahoo said on Wednesday that the amended bylaws would come into effect after its 2016 annual meeting, which means they would be effective from the 2017 meeting.