"SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) — Yahoo Inc is contemplating the sale of a minority stake to a private equity firm followed by a large share repurchase, in a bid to buy time to turn around the Internet company, people familiar with the matter said.
The once-dominant Internet pioneer has seen its share of the U.S. Internet search market fall while Google Inc maintains its lead and Microsoft Corp continues to expand there. Yahoo's U.S. display ad impressions have also been on the decline.
Under such a plan — one of many options being considered by the board — a private equity firm would take a stake in Yahoo of around 20 percent, and ally itself with Yahoo co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo, who together own another 9.5 percent of the company, these people said.
Keeping the private equity firm's initial investment below 20 percent would allow Yahoo to avoid putting the proposal up for a shareholder vote, two of the sources said.
The private equity firm and the two co-founders would then increase their combined stake to around 40 percent to 45 percent through a large share buyback that would reduce the number of Yahoo shares outstanding. Yahoo would finance the buyback through borrowing.
Such a deal would effectively give the two co-founders and the new investor control of Yahoo, providing them more time to fix the business without having to sell parts or all of the company, these sources said.
Under the plan, Yahoo would also get more time to seek out partnerships with social media companies like Facebook, Twitter and Yelp or move into mobile, the second source said.
Other sources told Reuters previously that Yang is interested in a deal with private equity firms that would take the company off public markets.
Representatives for Yahoo declined to comment."
没有评论:
发表评论