The owner of the Daily Mail has become the latest media giant to consider buying Yahoo, according to a news report.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the newspaper’s parent company Daily Mail and General Trust Group (DMGT) is in discussion with private equity firms to launch the bid.
DMGT joins the likes of US giants Google and Verizon and Time, who have all reportedly put in bids for the embattled online media pioneer.
The Daily Mail confirmed talks on Monday. In a statement, it said: “Given the success of DailyMail.com and Elite Daily we have been in discussions with a number of parties who are potential bidders. Discussions are at a very early stage and that there is no certainty that any transaction will take place. We have no further comment at this time. Further updates will be provided as appropriate.”
While meetings between executives have not taken place, according to the report, two options are being considered – a purchase of Yahoo’s US operations, with the Daily Mail taking over its news and media sites, or, merging the media sites of both into a new company in which the Mail would take a larger stake.
Yahoo’s business emcompasses search and email longside portals and blogging platform Tumblr.
There are several close crossovers between Yahoo and the Daily Mail in terms of publishing, including news sites covering finance, sports, celebrities and more.
This would appear a close fit with DMGT’s hugely successful mailonline.com, which boasts millions of monthly users and is the most read english-speaking news website in the world.
The combination could also potentially include Yahoo’s News Digest app, spawned from Yahoo’s purchase of Summly, a UK news app startup created by teen entrepreneur Nick D’Aloisio in 2013.
Yahoo began to explore strategic alternatives, including a sale of its core assets, in February. Verizon and Google are said to be among the companies considering bidding for some of Yahoo’s assets alongside a number of private equity firms.