Add to favorites News: The tech giant is planning to lend significant financing to support the bids.
Microsoft executives are reportedly in early negotiations with private equity companies that are considering a bid for Yahoo.
Citing a person familiar with the matter, Reuters reported that the talks are at preliminary stage and Microsoft is focused on preserving the relationship between both firms.
Private equity firms interested in acquiring Yahoo approached Microsoft on a potential contribution. The tech giant reportedly told the prospective bidders that it may lend significant financing to support the bids.
It is not the first time that Microsoft has shown interest in buying a stake in Yahoo. In 2008, then-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer tried to acquire Yahoo for nearly $45bn.
Yahoo is auctioning its core Internet business, which features search, mail and news sites.
The company has been struggling to revive its core online advertising business, following efforts taken by Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer to restore the businesses that did not yield better results.
Verizon Communications said in December 2015 that it could look at acquiring Yahoo’s core business if an agreement made sense.
Yahoo’s shareholders and investors have urged the company to sell its core business, instead of undertaking a spinoff that will separate the company from its stakes in Yahoo Japan and Alibaba Group.
Yahoo is also exploring the sale of up to $3bn worth of patents, property and other non-core assets.
A committee created to identify alternatives to spin off the company’s core business is looking at quick sales of assets.
Activist investor Starboard Value wants to remove Yahoo’s nine directors and replace them with others during the 2016 shareholder meeting.
Under its strategic plan, Yahoo intends to accelerate transformation and enhance consumer as well as advertiser product quality.
The company is closing offices in Dubai, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Madrid and Milan. Yahoo expects its workforce to be down to around 9,000 and have less than 1,000 contractors by the end of this year.
Yahoo’s overall market capitalisation is currently $33bn, including its its major stakes in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and in Yahoo Japan.
