Yahoo has updated the results of recent voting by shareholders, revealing that support for the internet firm's board is far weaker than it appeared.
Some 200 million votes were mistakenly cast in favour of the re-election of Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang and board chairman Roy Bostock by an outside company used by a major stockholder.
A revised tally released on Tuesday showed Bostock got the least support, with 60.4 per cent of votes in favour of his re-election instead of the 79.5 per cent originally reported after the August 1 shareholders meeting.
Yang did not fare much better, winning 66.3 per cent of the votes cast as opposed to the 85.6 per cent figure in the miscount. Two other Yahoo board members were erroneously given the support of 100 million votes each.
Nearly 40 per cent of Yahoo share votes were "withheld" in the cases of Bostock and board member Ronald Burkle, according to the revised tally. Just shy of 34 per cent of the votes withheld support for Yang.
Registering "withhold" votes regarding unopposed board members is a way shareholders indicate symbolic opposition to the candidates. The changed vote count does not alter the outcome of the Yahoo board slate being re-elected.
The new results strongly reflect Yahoo shareholders are disenchanted with Yang, Bostock and other board members who failed to consummate a tie-up with Microsoft that would have gotten them $US33 ($A36.07) per share.
Yahoo shares were priced at $US19.82 ($A21.66) each when trading closed on the stock market in New York City on Tuesday.
Yahoo avoided an ugly showdown at the annual meeting with corporate raider Carl Icahn, whose campaign to overthrow the board was ended by a truce that gains him three seats.
Microsoft on January 31 offered to buy Yahoo for $US44.6 billion ($A48.75 billion) in a half-cash, half-stock deal.
Microsoft walked away from negotiations May 3 after Yahoo rejected an offer it raised from $US31 ($A33.88) to $US33 ($A36.07) per share, which amounted to $US47.5 billion ($A51.92 billion).
Yahoo executives promise that the struggling internet pioneer is poised for more profitable days ahead.
The miscount came to light after Capital Research Global Investors, which owns 6.2 per cent of Yahoo's stock, suspected something was amiss and called for an audit of votes cast on its behalf by intermediary Broadridge Financial Solutions.
Broadridge disclosed on Tuesday that it had made errors is the number of "withhold" votes it cast in the Yahoo election.
