The Sunnyvale-based company has apparently been looking to sell its core Internet assets for quite some time now and is allegedly currently putting together a new shortlist of bidders. The low bid is a boon to the prospects of others, including AT&T, as multiple other offers are at or above US$5 billion, CNBC said.
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Yahoo’s board will review the second round of bids Friday, with the final round of the sales process expected to conclude in mid-July, CNBC reported. But the report notes that the individual suitors may be bidding on slightly different packages of assets.
In the second round of early bidding that was completed earlier in June, several offers came in above $5 billion, which were higher than Verizon’s offer of $3.5 billion, according to a June 9 story by Reuters.
While some buyout firms dropped out of the race over concerns about whether Yahoo’s internet assets would be viable as a standalone business, TPG Capital LP and a consortium of Bain Capital Private Equity and Vista Equity Partners Management LLC made offers, according to the sources.
Further, Verizon reportedly aims to combine the ailing company’s Web properties with its own booming online ads business, and is now attempting to overtake other potential bidders including private-equity firm TPG.
According to some industry sources, despite Verizon’s comparatively low bid, it remains one of the favorites to move ahead in the acquisition process. The Sunnyvale based company is under enormous pressure from the activist investors to detach its share from the Chinese e-commerce giant and Yahoo Japan.
Per earlier reports, analysts had expected Yahoo to be worth somewhere between $4 billion and $10 billion. Verizon has indicated a lack of interest in buying Yahoo’s patents and real estate, the Journal reported, citing an unnamed source. Representatives for Gilbert and AT&T didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
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AT&T is slowly catching up to its peers, as it remains a serious threat for Verizon in the entertainment and advertisement industry.
