Carl Icahn, the activist stockholder – and champion of the apparently futile “Microsoft Buys Yahoo” plan – who pushed his way onto the Yahoo board by dint of a threatened proxy fight, bought roughly 6.7 million shares of Yahoo the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

He laid out about $67 million, paying between $9.7988 and $9.9988 for the shares, according to an SEC filing.

That's less than half of what he paid per share for the roughly 6.9 million shares he bought on his way to the boardroom, a position that's lost him nearly a billion dollars since CEO Jerry Yang blew Microsoft's $34-a-share offer for Yahoo.

Icahn, who's evidently calling a bottom to Yahoo's Wall Street freefall, now owns almost 75.6 million shares, something like 5.4% of the company.

Perhaps it's his way of celebrating Yang's imminent replacement. He obviously thinks he can make up some of his losses.