• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, February 8, 2012

Signaling bigger changes to come, Yahoo this week added two new board members and announced the departure of four others, including Chairman Roy Bostock.

The shakeup “adds to pressure on the company to sell Asian assets valued at more than $10 billion and reverse the sales slump that’s plagued management since 2008,” writesBloomberg Businessweek.

Hearing that Yahoo could add three more board members, AllThingsD reasons: “The moves by Yahoo are designed to thwart a possible proxy fight that might be coming from activist shareholder Daniel Loeb, who has been working on a board slate of his own.”

“Bostock -- along with the rest of Yahoo's board of directors -- became the target of an open letter from investment adviser Third Point, which owns 5.1 percent of the company,” CNet recalls. “The firm's chief executive, Daniel Loeb, slammed the board, saying it has mismanaged the company, making ‘many mistakes.’ ”

Yahoo’s two new directors are former Rovi CEO -- and digital entertainment technology specialist -- Fred Amoroso, and LiveOps Chairman -- and onetime eBay COO -- Maynard Webb. 

“Combined with the resignation of Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, that will leave the company with a majority of new board members,” The Washington Post notes. “With the new changes, all of Yahoo’s directors will have joined the board after 2010.”

“The changes represent a new start as Yahoo seeks to regain its stature as a pre-eminent online property,” reports The New York Times’ Dealbook. Yet, “Many analysts remain skeptical that any strategic shift will be sufficient to revive the troubled brand, which is faced with dwindling options … But the infusion of new blood may buy some time.”

“Bostock revealed the news to shareholders in a long letter describing the company’s recent restrategizing,” reports Mashable. “A far cry from a resignation letter, Bostock is upbeat about Yahoo’s future and its recent moves, saying that, since the company is in a position to ‘drive innovation and growth going forward,’ he will not seek re-election at the next shareholders’ meeting.”

However, as The Guardian reports, Colin Gillis, an internet analyst at BGC Partners, said: "The Bostock era is not going to be one that investors look back at fondly … These guys are floundering."