Yahoo on Friday provided further details on its exploration of strategic alternatives alongside its continued consideration of a reverse spin-off.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said its board had formed a strategic review committee of independent directors to seek out and recommend “potentially interested strategic and financial parties,” with the help of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and PJT Partners, and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP as legal adviser.
In a statment, the company’s chief executive Marissa Mayer said that separating Yahoo’s stake in Alibaba stake from Yahoo’s operating business “is essential to maximizing value for our shareholders.”
“In addition to the reverse spin, there are strategic alternatives that could help us achieve the separation, while strengthening our business,” Mayer said.
Yahoo’s announcement follows on the heels of reports that activist investor Starboard Value was taking initial steps toward a potential proxy fight with Yahoo, according to Reuters. Starboard, which owns about 0.75% of Yahoo, has been pushing for changes at the Internet media company since 2014, asking it to separate its Asian assets and sell the core business.
Yahoo and Mayer are “under growing pressure from impatient shareholders to turn the web pioneer’s flailing Internet business around,” Reuters wrote.
One potential problem is the growing ‘rift’ between Mayer and the company’s board of directors, reported The New York Post.