More than 10 companies want to buy Yahoo, with some willing pay $8 billion for the core business
The report said that Yahoo will narrow down the bids to seven finalists over the weekend, but noted it will take at least another month to announce the final winning bid.
The bidders include Verizon, YP Holdings, TPG, and a group investors comprised of Bain Capital and Vista Equity Partners, as well as one or two unnamed "strategic firms," the report said.
That's a much shorter list of bidders compared to the 40-plus companies that were initially reported to be interested in Yahoo. Rakuten, for example, never held any talks with Yahoo, despite reports of placing a first round bid earlier this week, a person familiar with the matter told us.
Softbank, the majority owner of Yahoo Japan, has held talks with Verizon about Yahoo's minority stake in its Japanese partner site, but isn't interested in bidding for the core business, it said.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said in the company's earnings call this week that the sales process is a "top priority" and that she's meeting daily with various parties involved in the process.
But when asked for more details of the bidding process, she declined to share much, saying, "In order to protect the integrity of the process, we are not going to comment further on things like timing and/or particular offers."
Yahoo is struggling after a three-year turnaround effort led by Mayer failed to gain much traction. Recently, the company put its core internet business up for sale, following pressure from activist investors to make "significant changes" to the company.