On Thursday, a report from Bloomberg came out indicating that Verizon is poised to make a first-round bid for Yahoo and that Google parent Alphabet is considering doing the same.
The report also said that AT&T and Comcast, and Microsoft have all decided not to bid at this time, and that Time Inc., Bain, TPG, and others are still in the cards. IAC/Interactive Corp., News Corp, and Disney have all been mentioned as potential suitors at one time or another.
The due date for first-round bids had been reported as April 11, but Kara Swisher at Re/code is now reporting that Yahoo has moved the deadline to April 18, giving suitors another week. Swisher, who has reported much Yahoo insider info over the years, cites sources close to the situation and “blabby bankers” as her sources here. Here’s what she says about Google:
Hey, over there, Google is sure interested. (The truth is, its M&A unit crunched the numbers as they should, but an offer is highly unlikely!)
After the regulatory difficulty Google has had in partnering with Yahoo in the past, it’s unclear how these things would work if Google were to try and move forward with such an acquisition.
Stay tuned.
Image via Yahoo (Twitter)