Apparently there was a lot more interest in Yahoo than we thought.
Rather than being pursued by just a handful of high-profile companies, Yahoo on Friday revealed in its acquisition proxy statement there were initially 51 parties interested in buying its assets. The company said that figure was whittled down to 32 parties – 10 strategic parties and 22 financial sponsors – that signed confidentiality agreements, 19 of which attended audio recorded management presentations from Yahoo. In mid-April, 14 parties including three strategic bidders and 11 financial sponsors submitted preliminary bids for the company’s assets, Yahoo said.
By May, Yahoo said, nine bidders remained. The final round of bidding came down to six offers, the company said, including a high bid with a $5.25 billion base price that would have excluded Yahoo’s Excalibur IP Assets. The low bid appears to have been for a $2.75 billion base price and would also have excluded the Excalibur IP Assets.
Verizon ultimately signed a deal to snag the company for a total of $4.83 billion off a bid for a $3.85 billion base price excluding the Excalibur IP Assets.
Verizon has said it will integrate Yahoo’s assets – including its email service, content brands, analytics service and advertising solution – with those of its other Internet acquisition, AOL.
In the proxy, Yahoo also revealed it faces a $144.8 million termination fee if it decides to back out of its agreement with Verizon.
The golden parachute totals for Yahoo executives were also disclosed in the proxy, including $44 million for Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, $12.2 million for CFO Ken Goldman, $20.5 million for chief revenue officer Lisa Utzschneider and $12.4 million for Yahoo’s General Counsel Ronald S. Bell.
Mayer in July said she was “planning to stay” at Yahoo through the transition, but AOL CEO Tim Armstrong told TechCrunch a time will come when he and Mayer will have to “really work on what roles are going to be there.”