Private equity firms eyeing Yahoo
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
BILL RADKE: Yahoo may be on the table. A few private equity firms are mulling over a deal to buy out the number two search engine. Reporter Janet Babin joins us live from North Carolina Public Radio. Good morning, Janet.
JANET BABIN: Good morning, Bill.
RADKE: So who might buy Yahoo?
BABIN: So several proposals are just taking shape now, so it’s not clear yet. But the news comes from unnamed sources as well and several wires are reporting that big player private equity firms have approached media companies like AOL and News Corp. to feel out whether they might be interested in buying out Yahoo.
RADKE: I know Yahoo has been trying to stage a comeback. Why is takeover talk surfacing now?
BABIN: Right, as you say, Yahoo’s been struggling lately with a omeback. And it’s struggling to make money in the shadow of Google. You know, when you go to Yahoo’s website, it says “Welcome to the world’s you to the world’s most visited homepage. We’ve got 600 million users.” The company, though has had trouble making money off of all those millions of users. And with mobile apps becoming more important, you have to wonder if Yahoo’s sort of desktop-based model is outdated and whether any firm could really turn all those millions of users into or make money from them.
RADKE: And what is Yahoo saying about all this?
BABIN: Bloomberg is reporting that Yahoo is working with Goldman Sachs to sort of stave off any possible takeover approach. The recent talks from these unnamed sources would value Yahoo shares at far less than an offer Microsoft made for Yahoo back in 2008. And that was rejected at the time.
RADKE: Reporter Janet Babin talking to us live. Thank you, Janet.
BABIN: Thank you, Bill.
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