Will Alibaba Group Holding Ltd Buy Back Stake From Yahoo?

Despite all the best efforts by CEO Marissa Mayer, it looks as though Yahoo may be nearing a decision to sell the company’s Internet services businesses completely, if reports on The Wall Street Journal are anything to go by. These sessions are set to begin Wednesday and carry on through Friday, according to these sources.

The board will discuss whether to stick to its plan to spin off the company’s stake in Alibaba Group or find a buyer for Yahoo’s Web businesses, or both, the paper reported, without naming the people.

Yahoo now has a market capitalization of $31 billion, while the two major stakes it owns – $32 billion worth of Alibaba, and $8.5 billion worth of Yahoo Japan, mean that investors are valuing its core business at less than zero if these assets spun out tax-free.

Yahoo, founded in 1994, hired former Google executive Marissa Mayer to turn the company around in July 2012.

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. Apart from a possible sale of the internet business, the board is also expected to discuss the next course of action with regards to Yahoo’s stakes in Alibaba.

It’s been suggested Yahoo is considering selling off its core internet business – it’s main news and sports website and email service – when its board meets this week.

While Yahoo has not done that great, there are lots of parts of the business which could attract lots of private equity firms.

Yahoo’s core business is not attractive because its successive managers have faced many challenges in turning it around, the Journal noted.

Yahoo – and its group of Internet offerings – are the third-most visited places on the Internet, behind only Google and Facebook.

Shares in Yahoo jumped more than 7 percent in extended trading on Tuesday following reports that board members were holding marathon meetings this week to decide on a course of action.

Yahoo has planned to spin off its 15pc stake in Alibaba, but has run into difficulties over the taxes such a move would accrue, with American authorities warning that its elaborate restructuring plan created to avoid taxes on a spinoff would not pass muster.