 The Wall Street Journal has reported that several potential suitors are emerging for Yahoo’s core internet business, citing people familiar with the matter as stating Verizon Communications and IAC/InterActive are among the companies likely to consider a purchase.
The WSJ additionally reports that News Corp and Time might be interested in pieces of Yahoo. Yahoo has not released an official statement on the matter. Upon release of Yahoo’s third quarter results in October, CEO Marissa Mayer had stated that Yahoo would work to narrow its strategy leading into 2016, “focusing on fewer products with higher quality to achieve improved growth and profitability”. The WSJ has reported that the Yahoo board plans to weigh strategic options at meetings this week, including a sale of its core business and whether to spin off its investment in Alibaba Group Holding, now valued at more than US$30 billion. Yahoo investors are assigning the core business a value of less than zero, the WSJ reported, with much of the value of Yahoo’s US$32 billion market capitalisation tied up in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan Corp. As reported by Reuters, if Yahoo sells off its internet business, essentially all that would be left would be its Alibaba and Yahoo Japan Corp stakes. “Realising value is far from assured, however,” Reuters reported Pivotal analyst Brian Wieser as writing in a note. “The big question is whether anyone would actually show up with a meaningful bid.” |
