Is Yahoo for sale? According to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Inc.'s board is thinking about selling off the company's flagging Internet businesses.
Yahoo's board will have a series of meetings this week to see how the company can make the most of its stake in Chinese e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Yahoo is also weighing a spinoff of its stake in Chinese web giant Alibaba.
Yahoo's stock shot up on reports that the company might sell off its Internet business. Yahoo's "MaVeNS" business includes mobile, video, native advertising, and social networking.
The board is also looking at whether to keep CEO Marissa Mayer. Yahoo hired the Google executive Mayer in 2012 Marissa Mayer has come under increasing pressure over Yahoo's financial performance.Mayer was tapped by Yahoo to spearhead a major turnaround. Mayer was a software engineer, usability leader, and a Google spokesperson.
Yahoo's stock price tripled in the first two years after Mayer joined a collapsing Yahoo in 2012.
Mayer drove the stock up to over $50 a share this time last year but the stock dropped almost 35 percent.
Shares opened up more than 5% at $35.44. Yahoo's stock price closed Tuesday at $33.71, down 10 cents, but spiked as much as 7% in after-hours trading.Yahoo's third quarter revenue of $1.226 billion moved up at about a +7 percent rate. But MaVeNS revenue jumped 60 percent in the second quarter and 43 percent in the third to $422 million
Yahoo has $7 billion in cash, a 35 percent stake in Yahoo Japan valued by Reuters at $8.8 billion, and its core operating businesses. Much of the value of Yahoo's $31 billion market capitalization is tied up in two large Asian assets, Alibaba and Yahoo Japan.Yahoo was forced to cut its fourth quarter guidance after its most recent quarterly earnings missed projections.
