Private equity firms and AOL are angling to take over Yahoo!, the Wall Street Journal reports. Pairing the two brands -- AOL ever-shrinking and Yahoo never-defined -- will be, in business terms, a "challenge." To say the least...
Rumors started last week that AOL's CEO, Tim Armstrong, might be interested in the Yahoo! gig. And they did just buy TechCrunch -- a go-to blog in Silicon Valley and way beyond.
The Journal:
Silver Lake Partners and Blackstone Group LP are among the firms that have expressed interest in teaming up with AOL to buy Yahoo or trying to take it private on their own, these people said. They added that at least two or three other firms could be interested in participating if a formal buyout proposal is drawn up.
The people familiar with the matter cautioned that these discussions—involving private-equity firms, AOL executives and financial advisers—are preliminary and don't yet involve Yahoo. The conversations may not lead to an approach given the complexities in structuring a proposal, the people said.
More coming on this if we hear anything...
