Yahoo maneuvers in battle over board

Slumping Internet pioneer Yahoo Inc. on Wednesday postponed a key deadline in a looming battle with spurned suitor Microsoft Corp., hoping to gain more wiggle room as it tries to escape a takeover.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company’s maneuver means March 14 is no longer the deadline for Microsoft to nominate a slate of candidates to replace Yahoo’s current board -- the 10 directors who rejected the world’s largest software maker’s initial takeover offer of $44.6 billion.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft had already signaled it was prepared to oust the board if Yahoo didn’t come to the negotiating table before March 14.

Yahoo hasn’t offered a new nominating deadline. It will be set once Yahoo announces the date of its annual shareholders meeting. Microsoft will have as many as 10 days after the public notice to nominate directors and begin a proxy battle.

“Our objective here is to enable our board to continue to explore all of its strategic alternatives for maximizing value for stockholders without the distraction of a proxy contest,” Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang wrote in an e-mail to employees.