WSJ: Google Could Co-Finance Yahoo Buy

Yahoo Beats Estimates; Shares Rise After Close As Yahoo shops itself to potential buyers, Google has emerged as a potential player in helping finance a sale. The Wall Street Journal reported this early Saturday, noting Googlewould like to sell some advertising across Yahoo’s websites. The king of search has talked to two private equity firms among buyers who could possibly take Yahoo private and try turning the Internet pioneer around. Discussions have been strictly preliminary and speculative, and Google could very well decide to sit out. The last time Google toyed with the notion of partnering with Yahoo, federal antitrust lawyers squelched the deal andmight not look any more favorably on another proposal that involved linking the two. Separately, Yahoo’s Chinese partner Alibaba also hopes to meet with private equity companies about a potential bid to buy Yahoo and sooner rather than later. Alibaba chief executive Jack Ma said Thursday that if Yahoo’s board “is willing to sell, I’m interested. They’ve just got to let us know.” Federal officials would almost certainly be suspicious if not hostile to any deal involving China. Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, meanwhile, said a sale has not been ruled out but feels “there are plenty of options.” Yahoo continues searching for a chief executive.