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Clean-up king Loeb leaves Yahoo board with $600 million in his pocket

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By Noel Young, Correspondent

July 23, 2013 | 3 min read

Activist Investor Daniel Loeb is leaving Yahoo's board of directors, with a profit on his shares of nearly $600 million, just 14 months after he succeeded in ousting new company CEO Scott Thompson who replaced Carol Bartz.

LOEB: $600 million and praise from Mayer

Loeb and two other directors representing his Third Point Investors hedge fund will leave the board at the end of this month, Yahoo has announced .

New York-based Loeb acquired nearly 6 percent of Yahoo's outstanding shares in 2011, when the stock was between $13 and $16. Yahoo is buying back 40 million shares from Loeb at Friday's closing price of $29.11. He will retain a smaller investment in the company.

The parting is amicable . Loeb and his choice for CEO Marissa Mayer issued statements praising each other.

Daniel Loeb "is effectively signaling his job at Yahoo is sone, " said a commentator in the Wall Street Journal. Still, Yahoo shares fell at the news.

Loeb fought for changes at the top criticising cofounder Jerry Yang and other board members for poor leadership . After Bartz was fired , he challenged new boss Scott Thompson over a falsely claimed computer science degree . Thompson resigned in May 2012 .

Mayer was hired two months later by a mostly new board including Loeb, turnaround expert Harry Wilson and former MTV President Michael Wolf. Both are now also resigning.

Mayer thanked all three for being "incredibly supportive" saying: "Daniel Loeb had the vision to see Yahoo for its immense potential -- the potential to return to its greatness as a company and the potential to deliver significant shareholder value."

Mayer has certainly boosted morale and improved Yahoo's online products. But she got lukewarm reviews last week after reporting that that Yahoo's advertising business is still in decline.

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