The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported that Yahoo has asked potential buyers to submit their preliminary bids to buy Yahoo’s core Web business. The deadline is set for April 11 and so it will probably close the deal by June or July. According to a report in Recode, Yahoo is willing to sell its core business at $10 billion.
The potential buyers include Verizon, AT&T, Time and private equity firms TPG and KKR & Co. Yahoo recently sent a letter to investors asking them details about which Yahoo assets they hope to buy, the price tag quote and the method of financing the purchase.
Software giant Microsoft will also supposedly join the list as it is interested in financing the bids of private equity firms. Microsoft will definitely want to safeguard its revenue from its search engine partnership with Yahoo, if Yahoo is sold to a third party.
Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer faced huge criticism in the recent months for showing slow results on the search portal restructuring program. The main shout-outs were from the activist hedge-fund Starboard Value which owns 1.7% of Yahoo, and it clearly aims to overthrow Yahoo’s entire board. Amidst this speculation that Marissa Mayer might leave the company, media reports are excited that Mayer will make a fortune if she quits after the sale of Yahoo.
Analysts have estimated that she will take home $12 million if she leaves now, before the sale of Yahoo. But if she leaves after the sale, she gets a whopping $37 million, three years’ salary worth $3million and $9.5 million in stock awards that will mature in 2016. Some even call this her ‘golden parachute’.
Source: Reuters