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http://news.yahoo.com/blackstone-bain-mull-yahoo-bid-source-002005755.html

Blackstone, Bain plan Yahoo bid: source

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blackstone Group LP and Bain Capital LLC are preparing a bid of over $20 per share for all of Yahoo Inc with the participation of the Internet company's Asian partners, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The potential bid by the consortium, which would include China's Alibaba Group and Japan's Softbank Corp, has not yet been finalized, the source and two other people familiar with the matter said.

The Chinese e-commerce giant, whose primary interest is in buying back the 40 percent stake in Alibaba owned by Yahoo, is still keeping its options open, and said it has not decided yet whether to participate in a bid for all of Yahoo.

"Alibaba Group has not made a decision to be part of a whole company bid for Yahoo," Alibaba Group spokesman John Spelich said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

Blackstone and Bain declined to comment, while Yahoo and Softbank representatives were not immediately available to comment.

Although a bid for all of Yahoo is not yet on the table, the latest twist turns on the heat on Yahoo's board, which has received at least two offers for a minority stake in the company according to people familiar with the matter -- one from a consortium of Silver Lake and Microsoft Corp and another by TPG Capital. Silver Lake and Microsoft have declined to comment.

Yahoo's shares closed up 1 cent at $15.71 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Additional reporting by Greg Roumeliotis and Soyoung Kim in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Carol Bishopric)


Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com
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