Web pioneer Yahoo! mulling the sale of its core internet businesses
(Bloomberg) — Yahoo! Inc.'s board will consider a potential sale of the company's main Internet businesses in a series of meetings starting Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The board will discuss whether to stick to its plan to spin off the company's stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., to find a buyer for Yahoo's Web businesses, or both, the paper reported Tuesday, without naming the people. Representatives for Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo declined to comment.
Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer had planned to complete the spinoff by January, and promised to update investors on her strategy for the rest of the ailing Web portal.
Mayer is facing renewed pressure from activist investor Starboard Value, which last month threatened a proxy fight if she doesn't make drastic changes to her plans, including selling the main search and display advertising businesses. In more than three years at the helm, Mayer has made little progress turning around the company, whose revenue is forecast to drop 8 percent in 2015. Yahoo shares have declined 33 percent this year.
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Most of the company's value is tied to its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. In a letter dated Nov. 19, Starboard estimated that Yahoo's enterprise value is $31.2 billion. Excluding the Alibaba stake, cash holdings and partial ownership of Yahoo Japan Corp., Starboard valued Yahoo's core business at about $2 billion.
Mayer has been adding services for smartphones and tablets, new tools for advertisers and media content in a bid to attract audiences and marketers. Yet Yahoo has lost advertising market share in key areas such as mobile, where rivals such as Facebook Inc. and Google Inc. have gained ground. In October, Yahoo said it would update shareholders with a new strategic plan for the post-Alibaba era during its next earnings call, which is expected in January.