Shareholders yesterday demanded an apology from Terry Semel, the chief executive of Yahoo!, for the internet group’s dismal recent performance and lodged a strong protest vote against the company's board.

According to a preliminary count, about one-third of voting shareholders opposed the uncontested re-election of at least one Yahoo! director.

The protest vote followed a rocky year for Yahoo!, in which about $10 billion (£5.1 billion) was wiped off the value of the company in the wake of technology glitches, a string of profits warnings, several executive departures and the group’s failure to seal key acquisitions.

During the same period, Google shares have gained more than 30 per cent, giving it a market value of nearly $160 billion - more than four times Yahoo!’s

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Three proxy shareholder advisory firms had called for a protest against Mr Semel's $77 million 2006 pay package by voting aginst the re-election of board members.

Three shareholder-sponsored proposals were rejected at the meeting, including a call for the company to adopt a pay-for-performance standard for executive compensation.

Other measures voted down included a call for Yahoo! not to proactively censor its internet sites in territories such as China and the establishment of a committee to deal with human rights issues.

During the meeting, Eric Jackson, a shareholder claiming to represent about 100 small investors in Yahoo! said to Mr Semel: “I am surprised you did not apologise to Yahoo shareholders for the last three years of performance.”

He went on to ask Mr Semel whether he had enough “fire in his belly” to run Yahoo!.

Mr Semel replied: "Absolutely. I think Yahoo has more opportunity going forward than perhaps at any other time in its history."

The former Warner Brothers veteran had already made one apology last year to investors after poor earnings news.

His future at Yahoo! is widely seen as resting on the company’s heavy investment in new advertising technology, called Panama, designed to catch Google, the market leader.

Mr Semel has said that Panama’s impact will be seen in Yahoo! next quarterly results, after its latest set of financial figures showed a fall in profits.

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