Alibaba (BABA) Stock Falls, Not Interested in Yahoo!’s Web Business

The Wall Street Journal reports that the company’s board is considering selling the search giant’s core Internet business.

Under Ms. Mayer, Yahoo has made investments in online video, advertising technology and mobile software that have failed to create meaningful traction for the company. Brian Wieser from Pivotal Research Group said that the core business of the company was declining.

Naturally, Yahoo isn’t commenting on any of this.

While Yahoo’s share price has more than doubled and widely outperformed the broader stock market since Mayer took over as president and CEO in July 2012, much of the long upward trajectory was funded by an aggressive share buyback program and its stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan (4689.T).

It was reported today that Yahoo’s board is weighing under whether to sell its core internet business.

According to unnamed analysts, that business could attract interest from SoftBank Corp.

Yahoo shares rose 7% in after-hours trading following news of the breakup talks, after closing at $33.71.

Once the darling of the early internet, Yahoo floundered and even messed up a massive takeover offer by Microsoft while new players like Google and Facebook began shifting the axis of the internet advertising world.

“As the old saying kind of goes, reports of the impending demise of CEO Marissa Mayer at Yahoo are greatly exaggerated”, Re/Code’s Kara Swisher said.

Last month’s letter from Starboard referred to “numerous conversations and meetings” held privately with Yahoo in the past year, and the activists’ growing frustration with the company’s reluctance to adapt its plans as Yahoo’s shares – and those of Alibaba – have declined.

“That would mean investors are valuing Yahoo’s core business at less than zero if the Asian assets were spun out tax-free”.

“I have very aggressive expectations for Yahoo’s core business”, Ms Mayer said on the call.

The future of Marissa Mayer is nearly certain to come under fire, who was hired with extravagant fanfare from rival Google, where she was accredited with the person behind the success of the coveted search page.

SAN FRANCISCO – Yahoo’s board will consider in a series of meetings from next Wednesday a potential sale of the company’s main internet businesses, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.