AOL and private equity firms mull Yahoo offer

AOL and several private equity firms are exploring making an offer to buy Yahoo, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Private investor Silver Lake Partners and financial services company Blackstone Group LP are among the firms that have expressed interest in teaming up with AOL to buy Yahoo or to take it private on their own.

One of the scenarios under discussion among the buyout firms is a complex deal in which China's Alibaba Group would buy back Yahoo's roughly 40 per cent stake in Alibaba.

Another scenario involves AOL combining its operations with Yahoo in a reverse merger after Yahoo disposes of the Alibaba stake.

However, it has been stressed that the discussions surrounding the buyout are preliminary and don't yet involve Yahoo.

A combined Yahoo-AOL would have greater scale to compete in online advertising against industry juggernaut Google.

Read a full report at the Wall Street Journal. ·