Microsoft, Silver Lake reworking Yahoo bid
A consortium comprising Microsoft, private equity firm Silver Lake and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz are working on a new bid to acquire a minority stake in Yahoo, after the beleaguered Web giant asked for improved terms.
The group is reworking its offer for a stake between 10 and 15 percent in Yahoo, a source told Reuters last Friday, who added that the new offer would be predicated on Yahoo finding "a new, world-class chief executive that the consortium would support".
Yahoo has yet to identify a new head honcho since it fired CEO Carol Bartz in September.
The news came after the Wall Street Journal reported that private equity firms seeking to acquire just under 20 percent of Yahoo were working on new offers for a smaller stake at a higher per-share valuation, Reuters noted.
A Yahoo spokesperson said in the report: "As previously announced, the board is evaluating various alternatives as part of its comprehensive strategic review process, all of which are designed to enhance shareholder value and promote growth and innovation at Yahoo. The board's process is open to all alternatives and has not restricted the range of various options or proposals in any way."
Yahoo is faced with various options. Besides Microsoft, Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba--in which Yahoo still owns a 40 percent stake--is reportedly preparing a bid to buy all of Yahoo and may choose to do so with buyout groups Blackstone Group, Bain Capital and Japan's Softbank Corp, the report noted.