Verizon will place a first-round bid for Yahoo’s web business next week, and is willing to acquire the company’s Yahoo Japan stake to help sweeten the offer, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Google is also considering a bid for Yahoo’s core business, another source said.
AT&T and Comcast have decided against entering the fray, sources said, asking not to be identified as the discussions aren’t public. Microsoft, which failed with a hostile bid for Yahoo in 2008, will not bid this time, another source said. Time Warner is still mulling its next move, while private equity funds Bain and TPG, among others, are also planning to make a run at the business, either alone or by backing a strategic partner, sources said.
First-round bids for the company’s main web assets are due 11 April, a source with knowledge of the matter said last week.
Verizon and its subsidiary AOL Inc. are working with at least three financial advisers on the Yahoo bid, said three of the people. Verizon could give the Yahoo Japan stake to its shareholders or sell it, one of the people said.
Yahoo would prefer to sell its 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, worth about USD 8.5 billion, along with the core business, Bloomberg reported last month. The valuation of the combined assets would make it more difficult for private equity firms to finance a bid for both parts. Representatives for Yahoo, AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner, TPG and Verizon declined to comment. Representatives for Bain and Google didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
