Loeb boosts Yahoo! stake

Activist investor Daniel Loeb has upped his stake in Yahoo! Inc. after running a successful campaign to shake up the Internet pioneer.

Loeb, who in May won three seats on the board of Sunnydale, Calif.-based Yahoo! after a highly public battle against the company's board and former CEO, in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing disclosed the purchase of about 2.5 million additional shares in the company for $39.5 million.

The investor now owns more than 73 million shares of the company, or about 6% of the shares outstanding, expanding what was already the largest position in the portfolio of Loeb's Third Point LLC. In this updated filing Third Point said it acquired almost 1.7 million shares at $15.82 per share, and another 804,000 shares at $15.67 per share, according to the filing.

The purchase was viewed as a sign of Loeb's confidence in Yahoo! under the direction of new CEO Marissa Mayer. Loeb according to reports was instrumental in the hiring of the former Google Inc. executive. Shares of Yahoo! were initially up on the news of the hiring but have declined in the days since as investors come to grips with the extent of the challenges facing the one-time Internet titan.

Mayer is Yahoo!'s fifth permanent CEO in five years. She follows Scott Thompson, who left in May after Loeb discovered and highlighted inaccuracies on his resume. His four-month tenure was preceded by Carol Bartz, who spent two and a half years at Yahoo!'s helm before being ousted in September 2011.

Mayer has not yet announced her plans to turn Yahoo! around, but directors praised her expertise in product development and user experience. Shares of Yahoo! traded up slightly Wednesday morning, gaining 8 cents to $15.51.