Verizon Wireless has long been believed to be one of the leading candidates to buy struggling internet giant, Yahoo Inc. Now, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the carrier plans to submit a $3 Billion second-round bid for the core internet business of the Sunnyvale, California-based internet company. The carrier is said to have roped in Bank of America as one of the investment banks to facilitate the proposed transaction. Verizon, however, is not the only suitor for the beleaguered Silicon Valley search giant. Private-equity firm TPG is also said to be one of the parties seriously interested in scooping up the internet assets of Yahoo, and is reportedly also expected to put in a bid of its own before the expiry of the deadline.
Of course, it’s not just Verizon and TPG who’re interested in buying parts of Yahoo’s vast assets, which range from real estate to intellectual property. A number of other private equity and venture capital firms are also believed to have submitted their bids in the first round, but it isn’t clear just as yet whether any of those companies have participated in the second-round of bidding until now. Those firms include the likes of Advent International and Vista Equity Partners. There was also a group led by the founder of Quicken Loans, Mr. Dan Gilbert that was said to be interested in acquiring Yahoo’s internet assets. Either way, Yahoo is apparently planning to hold a third-round of bids at some stage in the near future, so things may yet change after this latest round of bidding.
Coming to the all-important factor – valuation. While Yahoo insiders had claimed in April that they expect Yahoo’s core business to draw bids of around $4 Billion – $8 Billion, reports last month seemed to indicate that the business was only expected to draw bids in the region of $2 Billion to $3 Billion, which is substantially lower than what Yahoo executives and shareholders would have bargained for. Either way, it remains to be seen which way the cookie crumbles in the end and who ends up owning the web assets of Yahoo Inc. There have been no comments forthcoming from either Yahoo, Verizon or TPG on the matter.