SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Social-networking site Facebook is halting the sale of its shares on secondary markets effective next week as the company prepares to hold its initial public offering in May, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Facebook recently asked firms that arrange trading of its privately held shares to stop doing so, a move intended to reduce churn in its valuation that could complicate matters as it sets an IPO price, according to another person familiar with the matter.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 28 (Reuters) – Daniel Loeb, chief
executive of hedge fund Third Point, said he would continue to
push to revamp Yahoo Inc’s board of directors following
Yahoo’s decision to reject him as a board member.

In a letter to Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson on Wednesday, Loeb
blasted Yahoo for excluding shareholders from its board and
accused the company of “making a mockery” of sound corporate
governance principles.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Mark Zuckerberg wants at least $5 billion from Wall Street investors, but those investors will not be getting much face time in return.

The Facebook co-founder and CEO made that clear when he skipped the social networking company’s first major briefing for analysts and bankers last week. The meeting was the first of many that will take place in the run-up to an IPO that could value the company at close to $100 billion.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook has acquired hundreds of patents from International Business Machines Corp as the social networking company attempts to bolster its intellectual property portfolio in the wake of a lawsuit filed by Yahoo.

The 750 patents from IBM cover a broad range of technology, ranging from search to semiconductors, according to a person familiar with the matter. A Facebook spokeswoman said the company had no comment, and an IBM representative could not immediately be reached.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Less than three months into the job as Yahoo Inc’s chief executive, Scott Thompson faces a proxy showdown with hedge fund Third Point that will determine whether he or a slate of dissident directors nominated by the hedge fund’s founder, Dan Loeb, gets to chart the company’s course.

“Thompson has got to make his case. And now he has to do it persuasively because there’s another guy who is going to make his case persuasively,” said Lawrence Haverty, a fund manager with GAMCO Investors, which owns Yahoo shares.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook will pay a fee of just 1.1 percent to underwriters of its initial public offering, a source with knowledge of the company’s plans said on Monday.

News that the payout would be much slimmer than the typical underwriting fee came as Facebook executives highlighted the engagement of its massive user base during a meeting on Monday with about 100 analysts, investment bankers and others involved in the IPO.

By Alistair Barr and Alexei Oreskovic

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc is taking the next step on its IPO journey and has summoned research analysts from Wall Street banks to its Menlo Park headquarters early next week for a pre-roadshow briefing to discuss the finer points of its business and books.

The world’s largest social network, which is racing toward what would be Silicon Valley’s largest ever initial public offering, will not disclose new information during the meeting with analysts.

March 14 (Reuters) – Activist hedge fund Third Point
said it will launch a campaign in the next seven days to install
its own hand-picked directors on Yahoo Inc’s board,
blasting the Internet company for failing to give the firm a
greater say in its operations.

“The board’s stonewalling, apparent insouciance and decision
not to engage with us in a serious manner, has left us no choice
but to directly approach our fellow owners with the shareholder
slate,” Third Point Founder and Chief Executive Dan Loeb wrote
in a letter to Yahoo filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 14 (Reuters) – Activist hedge
fund Third Point said it will launch a campaign in the next
seven days to install its own hand-picked directors on Yahoo
Inc’s board, blasting the struggling Internet company
for failing to give the firm a greater say in its operations.

“The board’s stonewalling, apparent insouciance and decision
not to engage with us in a serious manner, has left us no choice
but to directly approach our fellow owners with the shareholder
slate,” Third Point Founder and Chief Executive Dan Loeb wrote
in a letter to Yahoo filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on Wednesday.