Yahoo Bidders Line Up
According to a Reuters report that references sources familiar with matter, billionaire investor Warren Buffett is backing a group bidding for Yahoo Inc’s (YHOO) core assets.
The publication states the consortium, which includes Quicken Loans Inc. founder Dan Gilbert, is in the second round of bidding for the internet portal’s assets, and that it’s competing with private equity firms TPG, Yellow Pages parent YP Holdings, and Bain Capital. Furthermore, the paper adds that Buffett, legendary investor known for making his billions by investing in companies the Street undervalued but he deemed fundamentally sound, is helping finance the offer.
Buffett offered no immediate comment when Reuters reached him by phone.
Last month, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer signaled that she may be out of options for turning the Sunnyvale, California-based company around, saying Yahoo was moving swiftly to consider offers for its Web operations. Mayer noted that efforts “reflect clear, decisive action to move forward quickly and in a way that [the company] believe[s] will yield enhanced value.”
Yahoo received more than 10 initial offers last month, according to the report, with offers ranging from about $4 billion to $8 billion. More than a dozen potential buyers, most prominently Verizon (VZ), have expressed interest in buying the company’s assets, which include popular services like Yahoo Mail and its news and sports sites.
Yahoo stock closed at $36.48 on Friday. Currently, the shares, with a market cap of about $35 billion, fetch 63x forward revenue projections for next year, on a 16% growth rate. At its peak in early FY 2000, Yahoo was worth more than $254 billion.
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