Yahoo, once a leading site for searches, emails and news remains available with Twitter being the last company backing out from a rumored merger.
Unconfirmed reports claim that the two companies had conducted meetings led by their respective heads – Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer and Twitter head Jack Dorsey – a few weeks ago as reported by the NY Post.
Per that report, Twitter was studying the possibility of merging with Yahoo where potent content like news is something that the social media company could benefit from. The initial meeting took several hours as the two threshed out Yahoo’s financials and looked at the viability of coming up with a strategic direction.
Hearing of course that Twitter folded means that the social medium company found nothing feasible and thus everything was off.
“Twitter is the destination for instant news, and Yahoo has a lot of eyeballs on its site,” one source told the Post. “The idea isn’t as crazy as you might think.”
Even if talks got underway, not too many saw a link developing between the two. Some termed it as a ‘chalk and cheese’ possibility, capped by the fact that Twitter didn’t see any favorable benefit from its standpoint.
Verizon is another potential suitor, the leading contender that could buy Yahoo’s core assets. If so, Verizon could combine Yahoo with AOL, another company that they acquired only last year for $4.4 billion. From the looks of it, Verizon seems bent on developing a bigger online advertising venture.
Another company in play is AT&T, not to mention Warren Buffet. Buffett is believed to be backing a consortium which would include Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert.
Other potential buyers include private equity firms like TPG Capital, KKR, and the pairing of Bain Capital with Vista Equity Partners. Second round bids are expected next week. Yahoo could be purchased anywhere between $4 billion to $8 billion though the Wall Street Journal believes it could be much lower at $2 to $3 billion.
