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 Verizon submitted its offer with advice from investment banks
Guggenheim Partners LLC, LionTree LLC and Allen & Company, the
people said on Tuesday. The U.S. telecommunications company will
face competition in the second round from other companies and
private equity firms, the people added.
On Tuesday evening, Yahoo's advisers were still reviewing the
preliminary offers received on Monday. The auction attracted
interest from a diverse array of companies ranging from Japanese
online retailer Rakuten Inc <4755.T> to Yellow Pages owner YP LLC,
which is backed by AT&T Corp <T.N>, the people said. Rakuten ended
up not making an offer, a spokesman for the company said.
 Apax Partners LLP, TPG Capital LP, Bain Capital LLC, Apollo Global
Management LLC <APO.N> and Warburg Pincus LLC were among the private
equity firms that submitted first-round bids, the people said. Yahoo
may decide to allow buyout firms to team up in the second round, the
people added.
The field had whittled down ahead of Monday's first-round bid
deadline as several companies that were mulling an offer, including
Comcast Corp <CMCSA.O> and Time Inc <TIME.N>, decided to opt out,
the people said.
No two offers submitted were identical, and Yahoo is deciding which
proposed structures and assets to be divested offer the best
potential value, the people said. The company hopes the auction can
conclude by June, but the timing could sleep, the people said.
Softbank Group Corp <9984.T>, which owns 43 percent of Yahoo Japan
Corp, and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd <BABA.N>, in which Yahoo holds a
15.5 percent stake, have not participated in the auction, but may
engage with the U.S. company once the future of its core internet
assets becomes clear, the people said.
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The sources asked not to be identified because the details of the
sale process are confidential. Representatives of Yahoo, Verizon,
YP, Comcast, Time and the private equity firms declined to comment.
Softbank, Alibaba, Guggenheim, LionTree and Allen & Company did not
immediately respond to requests for comment.
Yahoo, under pressure from shareholders including activist hedge
fund Starboard Value LP, launched an auction of its core business in
February after it shelved plans to spin off its stake in Chinese
e-commerce company Alibaba.
Analysts see Verizon, which bought AOL last year for $4.4 billion,
as being a more likely candidate to prevail in the auction for
Yahoo's web business.
On Yahoo's first-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Chief Executive
Marissa Mayer said Yahoo management had been "running a quality
process designed to keep interested parties engaged."
"Over the past two months, (Chief Financial Officer Ken Goldman) and
I and the rest of the management team have spent time in person and
on the phone with interested participants, including some of the
most well-known, respected names in the industry," Mayer said.
(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis and Liana B. Baker; Additional
reporting by Malathi Nayak in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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