The UK’s Daily Mail has denied that it has submitted bids to buy Yahoo, yet sources say that it is still in talks with various parties to partner in a potential buyout of the US tech giant.
Yahoo is prepared for the sale of its core business and has been inviting bidders for the buyout. The sale follows years of losses from a continuing decline in ad revenues, as well as backlash from Yahoo’s shareholders including Starboard LP.
Starboard has been, for some time, trying to put pressure on Yahoo’s entire board saying that they have repeatedly failed shareholders.
Sources say that Verizon Communications, TPG Capital, Bain Capital, Vista Equity Partners Apax Partners, Apollo Global Management and Warburg Pincus are among the bidders.
WSJ reported that the Daily Mail could look to partner with a private-equity firm, where the equity firm would take ownnership of Yahoo’s US operations and the Daily Mail would acquire news and media operations.
In a second combination, a private equity firm would acquire Yahoo and combine its news and media assets into a new company and be integrated with Daily Mail’s web assets.
Yahoo’s news and media assets include Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports and Yahoo News. With mounting losses, Yahoo had to close some digital magazines and sites.
Dailymail.com has gained good popularity and garnering good audience base in the US for some time now. And its parent company Daily Mail & General Trust has been trying to profit from this development.
Now, by partnering with another company in the Yahoo bid, Daily Mail could increase its base and digital reach in the US by acquiring Yahoo’s media assets.
