Yahoo would not confirm or deny the report. Yahoo says more than 350 people work in the area in jobs focusing on site display, managing the search engine and operations. “This would appeal to global players, media companies, telecom participants and even some cable firms”. “They had a regularly scheduled board meeting and they’re going to introduce it”.
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In a letter last month Starboard urged Yahoo to halt plans to sell the $22 billion Alibaba stake due to the risk of a $12 billion tax liability and because the holding along with Yahoo Japan accounts for most of Yahoo’s implied value.
Several potential bidders for Yahoo’s core internet business have emerged, including Verizon/AOL, IAC/Interactive Corp and News Corp.
Analysts have estimated that Yahoo could end up paying anywhere from $10.5 billion to $19 billion in taxes, depending on whether China also demands payment on the gains.
Mayer is also working on a major overhaul that will jettison an unspecified number of unprofitable Yahoo services and could lay off hundreds of workers. With the passage of time, the company grew as one of the biggest names in the Internet business.
But those still betting on her may have lingered too long: The stock is down 50 percent since November 2014, and much of the long upward trajectory was funded by an aggressive share buyback program.
But by far the greater value to shareholders has come from Yahoo’s large stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan, which is controlled by the Japanese investment firm SoftBank. At the time, Starboard approved the move. It’s influence is slipping however and now rumours are suggesting that it may look to sell off many of its core businesses.
“To me that would be most valuable to sell”, said Ivan Feinseth, an analyst at Tigress Financial Partners. “In its current conglomerate state, it’s very hard to do anything with Yahoo”. Shares were trading up 6% in after hours trading, following the news. Should Yahoo place itself for sale, other tech companies and private equities are likely to scramble to acquire its internet assets. Earlier in October, Mayer promised to bring more focus to the company to fend off irrelevancy.
Anyone who picks up Yahoo’s core business would inherit some acute problems.
Yahoo’s desktop search ads continue to decline.
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Interested bidders could range from private equity companies attracted to Yahoo’s still-huge base of customers to technology companies eager for Yahoo’s mobile and web content, following the model of Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) buying AOL.
