Report: Daily Mail's Parent Company Said To Be Teaming With PE Firms To Bid On Yahoo's Internet Assets

Shares of Yahoo! Inc. YHOO were trading higher by more than 1 percent early Monday morning following reports that Daily Mail and General Trust is teaming with private equity firms to acquire Yahoo's internet assets. UK-based Daily Mail and General Trust is best known for its daily newspaper and tabloid website, the Daily Mail. A spokesperson for the publication was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying "we have been in discussions with a number of parties who are potential bidders" and that "discussions are at a very early stage." The Wall Street Journal, citing "people familiar with the matter," noted 2 potential scenarios. The first, a private equity partner would acquire all of Yahoo's U.S. operation and the Daily Mail takes over the news and media properties. The second scenario consists of a private equity firm buying the assets and merging its media and news portfolio into a new company that would also include Daily Mail's properties. Under this scenario, Daily Mail would run the business and would receive a larger equity stake in the business compared to the first scenario. Quartz noted that the Daily Mail is one of the world's most viewed English-language news sites and generates more traffic than the New York Times, the Guardian, Huffington Post and Buzzfeed.