Yahoo Bidders Offering Above £3.5bn – Report

Multiple bidders are vying for Yahoo’s core Internet business at or above the value of $5 billion (£3.5bn), according to CNBC.

Yahoo’s board of directors is set to convene this Friday to review the second round bidders. A final round will be held next week, with a result expected to come in July.

In May, Verizon was reported to be one of the shortlisted bidders among nine others who are after Yahoo’s Internet business as the company led by Marissa Mayer looks to sell off its core assets.

The shortlisted companies, a list that also includes equity capital firm TPG Capital, are mostly large organisations looking to carry out the transaction on their own, rather than the smaller companies that had proposed alliances with other firms to fund a deal, according to a Reuters report citing unnamed sources in May. Verizon’s bid had fallen short of Yahoo’s $5 billion target, coming in at $3.5 billion.

Trouble ahead

In March, CEO Mayer announced that Yahoo is letting go 15 percent of its workforce as the company looks to implement an “aggressive strategic plan” for growth.

The layoffs will result in savings of $400 million (£292m) annually, said Yahoo, as the company also prepares to close five offices around the world, including Dubai, Madrid, and Milan.

Yahoo said in a statement that the 15 percent cull will take place in the first quarter, but by the end of 2016, the company only have around 9,000 employees.

The deals currently being considered would see Yahoo selling its Internet assets and divesting its 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, leaving it with a 15 percent stake in China’s Alibaba Group Holding. In December Yahoo decided against selling the Alibaba stake due to tax concerns.

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