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Bloomberg: Verizon to submit bid for Yahoo next week, Google also considering a bid

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X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...proceed-with-yahoo-bid-as-google-weighs-offer

Verizon Communications Inc. plans to make a first-round bid for Yahoo Inc.’s Web business next week, and is willing to acquire the company’s Yahoo Japan Corp. stake to help sweeten the offer, according to people familiar with the matter.

Google, the main division of Alphabet Inc., is also considering bidding for Yahoo’s core business, a separate person said.

Potential suitors AT&T Inc. and Comcast have decided against bidding, some of the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions aren’t public. Microsoft Corp., which failed with a hostile bid for Yahoo in 2008, won’t bid this time, another person said.

Time Inc. is still evaluating a bid, 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 acquirer, the people said.

While the buyout firms haven’t yet paired themselves with a strategic buyer, they are open to the idea of doing so, the people said.

Yahoo has extended the deadline for first-round bids by a week, to April 18, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Shares of Yahoo Japan jumped 6.4 percent in Tokyo, the biggest gain in almost three months. Yahoo shares fell 1.3 percent to $36.17 in New York Thursday.

Three Banks

Verizon and its subsidiary AOL Inc. are working with at least three financial advisers on the Yahoo bid, said three of the people. Hiring so many banks is a sign that Verizon is serious about its takeover plans -- it has said since late last year that it was interested in buying some or all of Yahoo.

Verizon, which has a market value of about $213 billion, could give the Yahoo Japan stake to its shareholders or sell it, one of the people said.

Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo would prefer to sell its 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, worth about $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, TPG and Verizon declined to comment. Representatives for Bain and Google didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Based on the financial information that it’s seen, Verizon values Yahoo’s core business at less than $8 billion, one of the people said. Verizon, as well as some private equity firms, met with Microsoft last month to talk about potential funding for a bid, people familiar with the matter said at the time.

Microsoft hasn’t committed any funding and is unlikely to provide anything more than a token investment to the winning bidder, one of the people said.

A spokesman for Microsoft declined to comment.
Click to expand...
 
S

studyguy

Member
Melissa Meyer and her crew must be all hands on deck.
What a strange journey that company has had in the past few years.
 
B

border

Member
They would own Tumblr, and with it comes a massive stash of dank memes that even Bernie Sanders would be jealous of.
 
S

studyguy

Member
WonkyPanda said:
Mayer's reign at an end?
Click to expand...

Some Reuters story noted the Yahoo share price jumped in light of sales of its core assets and that the heads were suggested to move, without referencing Meyer specifically, but it was still implied?

She's probably facing the axe.
 
W

WonkyPanda

Member
studyguy said:
Some Reuters story noted the Yahoo share price jumped in light of sales of its core assets and that the heads were suggested to move, without referencing Meyer specifically, but it was still implied?

She's probably facing the axe.
Click to expand...

To say she's unpopular would be an understatement. I wouldn't be surprised if Verizon wants her gone after the purchase.
 
I

ItWillGetBetter

Banned
My vote goes to Verizon as I don't like the monopolistic sound of Google and Yahoo together. Regardless of how busted yahoo might be compared.
 
G

Guevara

Member
No way Google's bidding on the so-called core business. Imagine the antitrust issues.

I could see them buying parts, however.
 
A

AnotherDayAnotherDollar

Banned
Saw this earlier, was waiting for the official bids.

Guevara said:
No way Google's bidding on the so-called core business. Imagine the antitrust issues.

I could see them buying parts, however.
Click to expand...

Google could make a bid for the whole thing contingent on selling parts. That happens when the company being acquired wants to sell the whole thing and not in parts. The FTC/SEC/DOJ would probably allow google to buy, contingent they sell parts of Yahoo upon X days closing. Search and email are two obvious ones, google is right on the verge of monopoly by itself with 75% marketshare, so anything else they add would be highly scrutinized.
 
M

MartyStu

Member
Angelus Errare said:
Yahoo's inability to make Tumblr profitable is funny given that next to Twitter and Facebook, Tumblr is probably the only other social network that if done right could actually print money.
Click to expand...

It is not funny.

It is downright puzzling. I mean, how incompetent do you have to be to not be able to monetize the shit out of tumblr.
 
davepoobond

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
interesting. Verizon owns AOL already, so Yahoo and AOL joining under one umbrella would make Verizon a very big player in the email and web content fields.


Google doesnt really have that "editorial" presence online so i can see how it can use Yahoo in that way. Not to mention integrating yahoo mail into gmail.
 
Bboy AJ

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Fuck these companies for always buying each other. We need a new trust buster.
 
R

rrs

Member
Verizon buying Yahoo would be ironic just for the mere fact one of my email accounts provided by our ISP would now operated by a rival in the market
 
S

sephi22

Member
I hope nothing happens to my Yahoo mail. Its my first email and now works as my #2 email.
My gmail is my spam email and
my hotmail
is my primary important shit email.

Yeah, I know. I know.
 
I

Iksenpets

Banned
Guevara said:
No way Google's bidding on the so-called core business. Imagine the antitrust issues.

I could see them buying parts, however.
Click to expand...

I feel like the split that would make the most sense would be Google taking Tumblr and Flickr, and Verizon taking the search/mail/news. Google has no need for Yahoo's actual content, and search and mail would have monopoly concerns, but they'd probably love the tech behind Tumblr and Flickr, and would finally own a semi successful social network. Meanwhile Verizon would probably love to have the search and news stuff, but would know even less about what to do with Tumblr than even Yahoo did.
 
T

TheSpoiler

Member
Wow, that's incredible. Google has come a long way.

I guess that makes sense about search, since they are already big enough as it is. I couldn't even imagine Bing being murdered in cold blood. Despite how much people don't use it en masse, it's still below Google in search volume, and their ads are still important (even though they are run like shit).
 
E

Erevador

Member
Karp should have held onto Tumblr for a couple more years and then sold it to Facebook for 2-3 billion.

It deserves better than to be tossed around like this.
 
J

JonathanEx

Member
Don't think I've laughed harder than the idea of the Daily Mail suddenly becoming the publisher of so much porn with Tumblr and a bit on Flickr too.

Incredible.
 
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