Deals of the Day includes all the major news of the morning related to mergers and acquisitions and financing. For breaking deal news, turn to the WSJ’s Deals & Deal Makers page, or click here to automatically sign up for Deals Alert emails.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Face off: Carl Icahn filed a proxy slate to unseat Yahoo’s board and accused its directors of acting “irrationally” and setting the stage for what could be a battle for control of the Internet company. Yahoo responded by saying Icahn’s view “reflects a significant misunderstanding of the facts about the Microsoft proposal and the diligence with which our board evaluated and responded to that proposal.” [WSJ]
Related: How Icahn influences Yahoo without buying the stock. [Deal Journal]
Related: Paulson & Co. bought 50 million shares of Yahoo Inc. during the first quarter and plans to support Icahn’s dissident slate of directors. [WSJ]
Related: Farallon Capital Management and Mason Capital may also be jumping into the fray. [New York Post, also worth clicking on for the graphic of Icahn in John Wayne gear.]

On second thought: Airline-industry mergers are looking riskier amid high oil prices. United Airlines’ parent and US Airways are continuing to explore a deal. [WSJ]
Related: United Airlines is talking with Continental about a possible alliance even as its merger talks with US Airways continue to advance. [Reuters]

Les Moonves: CBS’s $1.8 billion acquisition of Web site operator CNET is part of an effort to jumpstart CBS’s share price by creating some Internet buzz, but maybe it’s time that Moonves stop acting like an Internet deal maker. [WSJ]

BHP Billiton: Shares of BHP rose more than 4% to a record $50 on reports that Chinese concerns were seeking allies to acquire a 9% stake in the Big Australian. [The Australian]
Related: Chinese steelmakers are considering a boycott of Rio Tinto. [WSJ]

Electronic Arts-Take Two: EA faces the expiration of its bid deadline. What to do, what to do. [New York Post]

Thomson Reuters: Several thousand staffers are expected to lose their jobs at the financial information provider in the coming weeks. [The Independent]

Hartford Courant: Cheryl Chase is no longer interested in buying the daily newspaper from Tribune Co. [Reuters]

Xstrata: “The reaction of Indophil’s shareholders to Xstrata’s surprise $426 million takeover bid will depend on whether or not they believe that the Tampakan copper-gold project in the strife-prone Philippines island of Mindanao is another Escondida,” writes Malcolm Maiden. [Sydney Morning Herald]

Let it go: G.E., AIG, and other companies plagues by know-it-all ex-CEOs. [Portfolio.com]

Financial Institutions

Housing gamble: The collapse of ANB is an ominous sign for many banks that gambled on real estate. The Arkansas bank went bust last week in the biggest failure of a brick-and-mortar U.S. bank in more than a decade. [WSJ]

Driving convertibles: The scramble by big banks and brokerage firms to raise cash is creating a boom in convertible securities, and a potential opportunity for investors. [WSJ]

Morgan Stanley: The Wall Street bank has begun job cuts in London, which could reach 350. [The Telegraph]

Barclays: The bank revealed a further £1.7 billion in writedowns on its credit investments and admitted that its capital cushion had fallen even further below target. [Times of London]

Buyside

Alliance Boots: The banks that financed KKR’s buyout of the U.K chemist chain have reached an in-principle agreement to sell at least £2 billion of its debt to a private equity consortium of Apollo, Blackstone and TPG. [The Telegraph]

Blackstone: Blackstone reported a $251 million loss, reflecting weakness across all of its businesses. Revenue fell 95%. [WSJ]
Related: The private-equity giant is considering buying into distress assets as part of an effort to cash in on the credit crisis. [FT.com]

KKR: The buyout firm plans to diversify into infrastructure, hiring a top Lazard executive to lead an expected $10 billion fundraising. [FT.com]

Warren Buffett: Berkshire Hathaway boosted its stakes in Kraft and Wells Fargo in the first quarter. [Bloomberg]

Green team: The National Venture Capital Association and other Silicon Valley stalwarts are lobbying Congress for alternative-energy tax credits. [San Jose Mercury News]

–Stephen Grocer and Heidi Moore