Yahoo is up for sale?

“I’m happy about any sort of capital allocation decision that gets the decision out of Marissa Mayer’s hands”, Strauss said of Yahoo’s beleaguered CEO.

Yahoo plans to spin off its Alibaba stake into a public company along with Yahoo Small Business that provides domain names and local marketing.

That’s not to say Yahoo doesn’t still have any clout.

The Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the plans”, noted that Yahoo’s board will discuss a potential sale of its core Internet business.

Though the intentions of Yahoo’s board may not be clear as they head into meetings this week, they certainly have a lot ot talk about.

“Any time a big investor urges a board to consider anything, they’re going to consider it”, said Nicholas Carlson author of Marissa Mayer and the Fight To Save Yahoo.

Mayer is also working on a major overhaul that will jettison an unspecified number of unprofitable Yahoo services and could lay off hundreds of workers.

But those still betting on her may have lingered too long: The stock is down 50 percent since November 2014, and much of the long upward trajectory was funded by an aggressive share buyback program. This is due to its market capitalization being valued at $31 billion, while its 15% stake in Alibaba is worth $32 billion.

Regardless of whether the board sides with Starboard on the spinoff issue or not, Yahoo will likely keep pushing forward with its video and advertising strategies. Activist investor Starboard Value LP last month called on the company to halt its Alibaba spinoff and instead find a buyer for its Internet business. Most of the dollars, though, are flowing to rivals Google and Facebook.

Yahoo runs several web properties including Flickr, Yahoo Finance, blogging platform Tumblr and fashion site Polyvore, as well as the messenger, mail and search functions it is known for.

Yahoo’s core business could be worth about $1.9bn, not including about $5.8bn in cash expected at the end of next year, along with some growth assumptions, Brian Wieser, an analyst with Pivotal Research Group, wrote in a note. Analysts have also mentioned Comcast and Amazon as potential suitors. If things continue to deteriorate at Yahoo and more shareholders clamor for a new CEO, it doesn’t take much imagination to envision Mayer deciding to step down to spend more time with her children at some point next year.

Yahoo’s stock was up 6.9 percent at $36.04 in early afternoon trading on Wednesday.