Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Yahoo! Inc., the Internet company that defused a fight for control of its board last month, overreported the percentage of shareholders supporting its directors because of a technical error, an investor-services firm said.

A transmission error by Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc. caused Yahoo to show fewer votes withheld from board members in the results of its Aug. 1 shareholder meeting, Broadridge said today in an e-mailed statement. A revised report submitted to Yahoo today won't change the election's outcome.

The new results, which Broadridge didn't disclose, may show weaker backing for Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang, who won 85 percent of votes in the first tally. Yahoo investor Capital Research Global Investors asked Broadridge to review the total. Capital Research has been critical of Yang's rejection of a Microsoft Corp. acquisition offer this year.

Broadridge collected votes from its clients and passed them on to Yahoo's independent election inspector. The final printout sent to the tabulator was truncated, Broadridge said today.

Diana Wong, a spokeswoman for Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo, didn't immediately return a phone message.

Yahoo had faced a proxy fight for control of the board from billionaire investor Carl Icahn. The two sides forged a truce in July, when Yahoo agreed to give board seats to Icahn and two directors he endorsed.

Independent Inspector

The Internet company had said in a June regulatory filing it would use IVS Associates Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware, to tabulate the votes. IVS and Yahoo ended discussions later, and IVS didn't handle the election results, said Creighton Dunlop, the firm's assistant vice president.

In a statement yesterday, Yahoo didn't cite the vote inspector it used.

``Yahoo did not participate in the execution of the votes and was not a party to any errors which may have been made either by a voting institution or a proxy processing intermediary acting on behalf of banks, brokers and institutions,'' Yahoo said.

Yahoo rose 44 cents to $19.82 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have dropped 15 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Crayton Harrison in Dallas at tharrison5@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 5, 2008 16:05 EDT