From Bloomberg:
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Softbank Corp. (9984) are in advanced talks with Blackstone Group LP (BX) and Bain Capital LLC about making a bid for all of Yahoo! Inc., said three people with knowledge of the matter.
Alibaba has prepared financing for a possible bid, said two of the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. The group would prefer to be invited to make an offer rather than going hostile, one person said. Yahoo shares advanced 5.9 percent to $16.64 in extended trading.Yahoo’s board is meeting today to discuss offers it received for a minority stake in the Sunnyvale, California-based company from bidders including TPG Capital and a group led by Silver Lake, people familiar with the matter said earlier. Alibaba hasn’t informed Yahoo of its possible bid, one person said.A bid by the Alibaba-led group would value Yahoo at more than the offers from TPG and Silver Lake, two people said. The Silver Lake-led group offered to buy a stake for about $16.60 a share, people said. TPG’s offer was higher, they said.Alibaba is interested in buying back Yahoo’s 40 percent stake in itself, Softbank wants to buy Yahoo’s 35 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, while Blackstone and Bain would take control of the U.S. operations, another person said.While Alibaba is in advanced talks with Blackstone and Bain, the company is still talking with other private-equity firms including Providence Equity Partners Inc. about an offer, one person said. Alibaba may also decide not to make a bid, the person said.
