Photos of scantily clad celebrities boozing it up on tropical resort balconies could be coming to Yahoo s home page. Britain s Daily Mail tabloid newspaper is in talks with investors over a possible purchase of the troubled Internet firm, which is accepting buyers bids until April 18.
The Daily Mail, whose bikini- and scandal-sprinkled website attracted nearly 70 million unique U.S. viewers in February, is working with private equity investors on a bid for Yahoo, according to the WSJ. The paper s report outlined two purchase scenarios. In one, a PE partner buys Yahoo s U.S. operations and the Daily Mail obtains the news and media properties. In the other, the PE company buys Yahoo and merges its news and media properties into a new firm. Under the latter scenario, the WSJ reported, the Daily Mail would operate the new company and get more equity than with the first option.
A Daily Mail spokesperson had confirmed to the WSJ that the U.K. paper was in discussions with a number of parties who are potential bidders. Other sources told the WSJ that the Daily Mail was holding talks with some six PE firms, including General Atlantic, over a possible bid.
In recent months, Yahoo has cut 400 California jobs and shuttered a host of Internet products including seven digital magazines. The firm s stock has plummeted, to $36.56 at mid-morning Monday from a 2014 10-year high of $52.62. Yahoo has predicted a bleak 2016, with revenue falling 14 percent to $3.5 billion, and earnings dropping 21 percent to $750 million. The firm said it lost $4.36 billion in 2015.
Analyst predictions of the sale price of Yahoo s core Internet business – not including stakes of about $30 billion in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and $8.5 billion in Yahoo Japan – generally run between $4 billion and $8 billion.
Since Yahoo initiated a sale process in February, analysts have floated names of a number of potential buyers, including Verizon, AT&T, Time Inc., Comcast and Google. The WSJ article said Yahoo had met with Verizon, media and Internet company IAC, and CBS.
Photo: Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)
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