OPINION: Yahoo board brought this on themselves: Eric Jackson

(Eric Jackson owns 246 shares of Yahoo Inc and says investors owning a total of 3.2 million Yahoo shares have joined his group of dissidents at www.youchoose.net/yahoo. The opinions expressed here are those of the author. They should not be seen as representing the views of Reuters)

By Eric Jackson

NAPLES, Florida (Reuters) - It's seven weeks until Independence Day.

On July 3, Yahoo holds its annual meeting. These gatherings are usually mere formalities, where incumbent directors get re-elected with 99 percent of the vote.

Yahoo's shareholders won't be so kind this year.

The breakdown in discussions with Microsoft is the latest disappointment they have had to endure.

Yahoo's stock has been flat for four years, while the NASDAQ has climbed 30 percent and Google is up 440 percent.

Yahoo has also steadily lost search market share, paid lavish executive compensation, missed the opportunity to buy Facebook, and endured steady executive turnover.

Yahoo's board is ultimately responsible for this but it is essentially unchanged over this time period.

Last year, I successfully mounted a "vote no" campaign leading up to the annual meeting. People were upset then about the rudderless direction of the company.

More than 34 percent of the votes were cast against three directors, including current Chairman Roy Bostock. Six days later, CEO Terry Semel announced his resignation.

With Microsoft and their reported $33/share offer now out of the picture, Yahoo holders are preparing to democratically voice their opinions at the July 3 meeting.

I'm arguing again for an "against" vote for all directors.

This "protest vote" will send a message clearly that we hold this board accountable for the lack of results in the past four years.

We want significant changes in the composition of the board with replacements who better represent our interests.

It's likely that activist investor Carl Icahn will also file his own slate of nominees for the board by the end of today. (Editor's Note: Sources told Reuters on Wednesday that Icahn planned to run a slate.)  Continued...