Yahoo names three new independent directors to board NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc said on Sunday it has appointed three new independent directors. John D. Hayes, chief marketing officer of American Express Company, Peter Liguori, former chief operating officer of Discovery Communications and Thomas J. McInerney, the outgoing chief financial officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp will commence their tenure as directors effective April 5. Yahoo said in a statement that its board had offered to propose Harry Wilson, one of Third Point's four nominees, and a second person mutually acceptable to Yahoo and the activist investor, outside of its three other nominees, to join the board in order to avoid a proxy fight. Third Point founder and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Loeb rejected this proposal and declined to end its solicitation with respect to its own four candidates unless he personally was appointed to the board, according to the Yahoo statement. The board has determined that while it remains open to hearing Third Point's ideas, appointing Loeb to the board is not in the best interest of the company and its shareholders. Third Point, whose 5.8 percent stake in Yahoo ranks it among the company's largest institutional shareholders, has sharply criticized Yahoo's strategy and launched a campaign to install four directors at Yahoo's board. Representatives of Third Point did not have immediate comment. Reporting By Soyoung Kim and Katya Wachtel