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Yahoo Extends Bidding Deadline, But Will Google And Verizon Bite?

Yahoo ( YHOO ) has pushed back the deadline for bids on the company by one week, to April 18 rather than this coming Monday, according to media reports. “We’ll see who bids — and, more to the point, who gets passed through to the next round. It’s a little like the ‘Hunger Games,’ except you get to live and then have to overhaul the Silicon Valley Internet giant,” Re/Code wrote  Friday. Verizon Communications ( VZ ) is said to be planning to make a  first-round bid for Yahoo’s Web business and is also planning to bid for the company’s holdings in Yahoo Japan to help sweeten its offer, Bloomberg said. Google, the main division of Alphabet ( GOOGL ), is also reportedly considering a bid for Yahoo’s core business. One-time potential suitors including AT&T ( ATT ) and Comcast ( CMCSA ) have decided against bidding, the Bloomberg report said.  Microsoft ( MSFT ), which failed with a hostile bid for Yahoo in 2008, also won’t bid, according to the report. Time ( TIME ); Japan’s SoftBank ( SFTBY ), the majority owner of Yahoo Japan; and several private equity firms also are kicking the tires, reports Bloomberg. Verizon and its subsidiary AOL are working with at least three financial advisers on its bid, the report said. Re/Code said earlier this week that documents Yahoo provided to potential bidders predict the Web portal’s 2016 revenue will drop by close to 15% and its earnings by more than 20%. Yahoo’s inability to fully embrace the transition to mobile has meant that “usage and monetisation are moving to areas where Yahoo is unable to follow,” wrote Edison Investment Research analyst Richard Windsor in a research note Friday. Windsor said that Yahoo has been “buying traffic in order to prop up the popularity of its online properties. Effectively, Yahoo is masking the declines in its revenue by buying revenue-generating traffic from other websites and services. This means that the revenue genuinely generated by Yahoo’s properties will fall by 14% this year to $3.6 billion.” Yahoo has not commented on the reports. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect EPS ex items to fall 10% this year, to 53 cents, with revenue falling 9% to $4.52 billion. Yahoo has recently implemented layoffs and begun the process of selling itself and spinning off its hefty stake in China e-commerce giant Alibaba Group ( BABA ). It’s also in the midst of a proxy fight initiated by activist investor Starboard Value seeking to oust Yahoo’s entire board and CEO Marissa Mayer. Yahoo’s revenue growth has stalled for nearly a decade as ad dollars continue to slip away to rivals, including Facebook ( FB ), Netflix ( NFLX ), Google and others, as well as high-profile startups Snapchat and Pinterest. Yahoo stock was down more than 1% in midday trading in the stock market today , near 36. Verizon stock was up a fraction.

Microsoft Reportedly Among Those In Yahoo Acquisition Mix

The process of finding a buyer for struggling Web portal Yahoo ( YHOO ) is reportedly in the middle of its first round, and interest is high, according to a CNBC report , which cited sources close to the matter. This comes after a separate report said  Microsoft ( MSFT ) might put up “significant” financing in a bid for Yahoo. Microsoft executives are in talks with potential investors about providing funds to buy the troubled Internet company , Re/Code reported. A Reuters report said those talks are in the early stages. Microsoft and Yahoo have a longstanding search and ad partnership, and Microsoft is focused on preserving that relationship, it said. Private equity firms interested in Yahoo have approached Microsoft, Reuters said. Microsoft declined to comment. Microsoft has been meeting with private-equity firms and saying it might lend “significant” financing in a bid for Yahoo, according to Re/Code . In 2008, then-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer tried to buy Yahoo for about $45 billion. Yahoo’s overall market cap is now $33 billion, but that includes its its major stakes in China e-com leader  Alibaba Group ( BABA ) and in Yahoo Japan. Minus those holdings, analysts have pegged the price of Yahoo’s core business at $6 billion to $8 billion. Excluding its 15% stake in Alibaba, Rosenblatt analyst Martin Pyykkonen said in an industry note last week : “Yahoo’s current market cap implies $3.3 billion valuation for the core business and the Yahoo Japan stake. We think the fundamental outlook for Yahoo as a ‘growth’ stock is continuing to erode, especially in light of strong secular trends which are benefiting the likes of Facebook ( FB ) and Google owner Alphabet ( GOOGL ), both of which have more revenue concentration from mobile advertising.” Possible Yahoo Buyers Said To Include AT&T, Verizon Re/Code said that Yahoo started engaging with “strategic” bidders that include AT&T ( ATT ), Verizon ( VZ )and Comcast ( CMCSA ), with private equity and other investment firms to come next, the report’s sources said. Interested parties reportedly include Advent International, Vista Equity Partners, TPG and KKR ( KKR ). Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said in December that the U.S. wireless carrier could look at buying Yahoos’s core business if it were a good fit. Activist investor Starboard Value announced Thursday that it wants to sweep  out all of the ailing Web company’s nine directors and replace them with its own slate during Yahoo’s 2016 shareholder meeting. This month, Yahoo appointed two members to its board: Catherine Friedman, a former managing director at Morgan Stanley ( MS ), and Eric Brandt, a former chief financial officer at  Broadcom ( AVGO ). “This is gearing up to be an epic proxy fight, and we believe that this will create a significant overhang on Yahoo shares,” said Mizuho analyst Neil Doshi in an industry note on Thursday. “It’s unusual to see an investor try to replace an entire board, but this clearly highlights to us that Starboard does not trust any of the existing board members will do what needs to be done to create value for Yahoo shareholders.” Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer has struggled to turn the company around in her nearly four years as Yahoo’s leader. Yahoo stock was up 1%, near 35, in afternoon trading in the stock market today .