(Reuters) - Yahoo Inc (O:YHOO) 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. (http://1.usa.gov/1RyQU5t)
Yahoo joins several companies including Apple Inc (O:AAPL), AT&T Inc (N:T), Staples Inc (O:SPLS) and Citigroup Inc (N:C) 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 (N:BABA).
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.