Microsoft Tells Possible Yahoo Buyers It Would Consider Backing Bids | Re/code

On a related note, see Entire Yahoo Board Would Be Ousted if Starboard Value Gets Its Way (NYT)

"Preserving its current status is important to Microsoft, said sources, which is why it has been mulling the financing of possible Yahoo buyers, who will have to come up with billions of dollars in cash to be competitive. “If Microsoft put in a billion, it would cost them almost nothing,” said one investor who had spoken to the company. “It’s a minor thing and it buys them a lot.”

Yahoo’s market cap is currently $32.5 billion, but that includes its stakes in its Asian assets. After the spin-off of its Alibaba Group assets and minus-ing out its shares of Yahoo Japan, most peg the price of its core business at $6 billion to $8 billion.

But sources close to Yahoo’s board said it wants $10 billion in a sale. (By way of comparison, I want a pretty pony from Microsoft comms head Frank Shaw and have a better chance of getting it.)"

Microsoft Tells Possible Yahoo Buyers It Would Consider Backing Bids | Re/code