Verizon bidding $3B for Yahoo assets, WSJ reports

Verizon Communications Inc. will bid $3 billion for Yahoo! Inc.’s main internet assets, the Wall Street Journal reported, seeking to edge out AT&T Inc., TPG and other potential buyers.

Yahoo will probably hold at least one more cycle of bidding and the offers could change by the final round, the Journal reported. Rebecca Neufeld, a spokeswoman for Yahoo, declined to comment.

While Yahoo still boasts about 1 billion users, putting it among the largest online players in the world, it has serious challenges. It has been losing ground in digital advertising to rivals such as Facebook Inc., Google Inc. and Twitter Inc. This year, the web portal will capture just 1.5 percent of the digital ad market, down from 2.1 percent in 2015, according to eMarketer Inc. CEO Marissa Mayer started a review of the company’s options in February after pressure from investors and a failed turnaround.

Last month, Chief Financial Officer Ken Goldman said Yahoo’s strategic review to sell its core business was going well and “well along the way.”

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Bidders have included TPG, Verizon, YP Holdings LLC and a consortium led by Bain Capital LP and Vista Equity Partners LLC, people familiar with the matter have said. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren Buffett is also backing a group bidding for Yahoo’s Internet assets, people familiar with the matter have said. The company has received more than 10 initial offers ranging from about $4 billion to $8 billion, people familiar with the matter have said.

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