Final bids for Yahoo's core internet business are due Monday, according to The New York Times, and the board plans to make a decision on the fate of the assets "soon afterward." Verizon and AT&T are among the final bidders as well as several private equity firms and a consortium led by the founder of Quicken Loans who's backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.
Verizon has been viewed as the most likely candidate to walk away with Yahoo's online assets, and a tie-up would make sense on several levels. Yahoo has grown a massive audience of mobile users – even if the company has largely failed to monetize it – and the nation's largest mobile carrier is openly trying to build a digital media empire to complement its wireless and wireline businesses. But don't count out AT&T, which also is moving aggressively into media following its acquisition of DirecTV. One of the other bidders could win out, of course, but there's a very good chance one of the two largest U.S. wireless carriers is going to add a huge piece to its media business soon. Article