Yahoo Open to Sale, Tie-Up in Search Business
SAN FRANCISCO Internet pioneer Yahoo is open to selling its Web search business or entering into a partnership with another company, but doing a deal would be hard, a top executive said on Wednesday.
“We are not opposed to doing a deal that would maximise the value of the business in one way or another, be it a partnership or be it a long term sale,” Yahoo chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen said.
“We’re very focused though on building our business and doing that in a way which we can benefit all from the search side,” he added during a Goldman Sachs technology conference here.
Microsoft has expressed interest in Yahoo’s search business and made a bid for the Sunnyvale, California-based firm last year but Jorgensen did not mention the US software giant as a potential partner. He stressed the difficulties of doing a deal.
“What people don’t quite appreciate is the complexity of the business, and how these businesses are intertwined,” he said. “For example at a data center, we don’t parse between search or non-search.
“It’s extremely difficult to draw a line down the middle of the organisation and split it in two pieces,” Jorgensen said.
Yahoo! rejected a takeover bid by Microsoft last year but Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has said the software giant remains interested in a search partnership with Yahoo.
“We are not opposed to doing a deal that would maximise the value of the business in one way or another, be it a partnership or be it a long term sale,” Yahoo chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen said.
“We’re very focused though on building our business and doing that in a way which we can benefit all from the search side,” he added during a Goldman Sachs technology conference here.
Microsoft has expressed interest in Yahoo’s search business and made a bid for the Sunnyvale, California-based firm last year but Jorgensen did not mention the US software giant as a potential partner. He stressed the difficulties of doing a deal.
“What people don’t quite appreciate is the complexity of the business, and how these businesses are intertwined,” he said. “For example at a data center, we don’t parse between search or non-search.
“It’s extremely difficult to draw a line down the middle of the organisation and split it in two pieces,” Jorgensen said.
Yahoo! rejected a takeover bid by Microsoft last year but Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has said the software giant remains interested in a search partnership with Yahoo.
source: OMAN TRIBUNE
