Yahoo! reached an agreement with Carl Icahn: eight members of Yahoo’s current board of directors will stand for re-election; the board will be expanded to 11 members, Icahn will take one, and the other two will be chosen based on his recommendation.

Yahoo! co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang said this of the agreement:

“This agreement will not only allow Yahoo! to put the distraction of the proxy contest behind us, it will allow the Company to continue pursuing its strategy of being the starting point for Internet users and a must buy for advertiser.”

Icahn’s statement is more revealing: “I am very pleased that this settlement will allow me to work in partnership with Yahoo!’s Board and management team to help the Company achieve its full potential. While I continue to believe that the sale of the whole Company or the sale of its Search business in the right transaction must be given full consideration, I share the view that Yahoo!’s valuable collection of assets positions it well to continue expanding its online leadership and enhancing returns to stockholders.”

Bascially, Icahn backed down in exchange for three seats on the board; and will not be pushing for the sale of Yahoo or its search business…for a while. Does it mean that the Microhoo soap opera is finally at an end? Far from it: this is just one little (costly) victory for Yahoo. If there is a clear “winner” in this story when the dust settles in the end, I bet it will be a Pyrrhic victory.

Read the official statement by Yahoo here.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:The Microsoft-Yahoo Dream/Nightmare Lives On: Billionaire Icahn Makes a MovePushed By Icahn, Yahoo Jumps Back Into Ad Deal With Google?Yahoo Board Member Leaves; First Sign Of Disintegration?More Love Notes: Yahoo Responds to Icahn’s Master Plan@Yahoo is Twittering: @Microsoft: Sure, We’ll Consider an AlternativeIcahn Wants Yang Fired, Microsoft Chuckles EvillyYahoo Shareholders Claim Company Is Concealing Critical Documents

Source:Mashable!

Jajah, which has been on the fast track to expansion by way of several partnerships, has just teamed up with Pageonce’s Personal Internet Assistant service so users can keep track of their Jajah activity at any time. This comes with additional alerts from Pageonce for account updates like a low balance or other changes that have occurred to their account. As with all other service partnerships included in Pageonce, the Jajah account access and alerts are free.

This is different than most Jajah partnerships you hear about, as most announcements regarding Jajah integration involve the ability to make VoIP calls within a particular social network. But the remote access to your Jajah account activity through Pageonce is an important partnership as well. As I mentioned in previous coverage of Pageonce, through its virtual service you can access your various accounts securely, without having to log in, once your account has been confirmed.

We’ve seen several developments moving towards just this type of a partnership, with advances from Pageonce, LiquidTalk, SkyDeck, Chase and also Jajah, to name a few. So I’m not surprised to see Jajah make your account activity available through the Pageonce Personal Internet Assistant program, and extend it to all their users. Not only are more companies making their content accessible remotely through plug-ins and third-party services, but others like Pageonce are turning this into a highly personalized service that aggregates nearly everything in your life, from your cable service account information to your checking account balance, your Netflix queue to your airline mileage points.

Pageonce is one of the most comprehensive tool of its kind that I’ve used so far, and the company has worked hard to make as many services as possible available directly through its service. I think the next major step for this particular space is continued growth through user and B2B adoption, and we’ll likely see some indirect recommendations as a result, on a very personalized level.

As services like Pageonce become a platform for centralized custom content, we’ll also likely see some indirect marketing from third party services come about, as services find that Pageonce has the potential to become yet another way in which they can reach out to consumers, as well as an integrated service that can be offered as a perk for their existing customers. The beauty of it is that it works across a myriad of services and industries, even those outside of the Web-based service realm.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Pageonce Launches Virtual Personal Assistant–And it WorksCan the Web Be Your Personal Assistant? PageOnce + $1.5M Says Yes.Jajah Launches Free Phone Calls GloballyJajah Enables VoIP Calls on iPhoneJajah Introduces Buttons: Widgets for Toll-Free CallingJajah Going Ad-SupportedeBay Deletes Listings with Jajah VoIP Buttons