On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal suggested that her job was on the line and reported that Yahoo’s board had planned a series of meetings this week to discuss spinning off the company’s flagship Internet business.
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People told The Wall Street Journal that Yahoo’s board is expected to discuss its options in sessions that will begin on Wednesday and continuing through Friday.
Growing concerns around Chief Executive Marissa Mayer’s lack of progress turning around Yahoo and an exodus of top executives have increased pressure on the company’s board to consider her future and alternatives to her turnaround attempt, now in its fourth year.
Private equity firms and media companies are reportedly vying to snap up Yahoo’s struggling internet arm as the United States technology giant considers spinning off its traditional web business.
At Alibaba’s current valuation, Yahoo’s stake in the company now values near $32 billion.
The investor said its position on the spin off changed after the decision by the federal government not to make a ruling on whether the spinoff would or would not incur taxes in the billions of dollars. Yahoo has said it wants to proceed with the deal anyway, and close it this month. That’s where the core business spin-off idea comes in; Yahoo could eliminate this looming risk if it manages to find a buyer to take over its business.
Shares of Yahoo have tumbled 35% this year.
It’s about time: the company’s stock price has steadily fallen by more than 30 percent this year, owing to poor performance.
Yahoo runs several web properties including Flickr, Yahoo Finance, blogging platform Tumblr and fashion site Polyvore, as well as the messenger, mail and search functions it is known for.
The company’s shares were up more than 7 percent in extended trading.
Despite all of this though, Yahoo still has control over one of the biggest Internet user bases in the world, with more than a billion users worldwide. “Yahoo’s core business is in seemingly permanent decline”.
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Yahoo’s board is understood to be considering the demands made by an activist shareholder for Yahoo to offload its core services instead of selling its stake in Alibaba.
