The Sunnyvale tech giant has struggled over the years to turn its business from a desktop Web portal with banner ads to a mobile Internet business that can generate robust revenue.
Over nearly four years, CEO Marissa Mayer tried to strengthen the business through acquisitions like mobile analytics firm Flurry and blogging platform Tumblr, but analysts say they have yet to see the return on those investments.
Analysts had initially predicted that telecom giants like Verizon and AT&T would bid $6 billion to $8 billion for Yahoo, a sum that includes the core business of Internet properties and as well as Yahoo’s real estate and intellectual property — chiefly its patents — but not its stake in Yahoo Japan and Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba.
Verizon isn’t interested in the Yahoo real estate or patents, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited an anonymous source.
Not bidding on the intellectual property could make the acquisition simpler because it could take time to evaluate how much each patent is worth, Peck said.
Telecom companies have particularly been interested in Yahoo because of its large audience of more than 1 billion monthly users, which could aid their efforts to target advertising for customers.
On Tuesday, Verizon’s chief financial officer Fran Shammo said at a conference that his company wants to build more viewership on its video platform and other products.
AT&T could choose to keep Mayer or go with another prominent ad tech executive like Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo’s former interim CEO and media chief, analysts said.
If Yahoo’s buyer ends up declining to purchase its real estate, that could also cause a flood of office space to come on the market.
In the Bay Area, Yahoo owns or leases 1.2 million square feet of office space, according to CoStar Portfolio Strategy.
