Rumors have been circulating for about a week now that AOL and Yahoo could merge. More recently, the talk is that AOL Inc., along with several private equity firms, is looking to buy Yahoo Inc. and merge the two companies. This latest comes from a report by WSJ:
Silver Lake Partners and Blackstone Group LP are among the firms that have expressed interest in teaming up with AOL to buy Yahoo or trying to take it private on their own, these people said. They added that at least two or three other firms could be interested in participating if a formal buyout proposal is drawn up.
Keep in mind that “people familiar with the matter” are cautioning anyone jumping to conclusions. These are simply preliminary discussions involving AOL Inc., private equity firms, and financial advisors. Yahoo hasn’t even been contacted yet. The conversations may not even lead to an official proposal to Yahoo given the complexity involved.
There are a few scenarios out there, but the general idea would be for China’s Alibaba Group to buy back Yahoo’s 40% stake in the company. This would make Yahoo Inc. more maneuverable in merging with AOL as it would lower the bar of entry for private equity firms in getting financing.
Alibaba Chief Executive Jack Ma has expressed interest in repurchasing Yahoo’s stake in his company, which analysts value at about $10 billion. A big chunk of Yahoo’s current market value comes from its Alibaba stake.