• Business Insider, Wednesday, November 2, 2011 1:42 PM

Yahoo needs help -- but not too much. The drifting Web giant is reportedly propositioning private equity firms to effectively gain control of the company, but without buying it outright. “The proposed plan would have a private equity firm buy up to 20% of the company, which would become a much larger stake after a stock buyback,” reports Business Insider, citing a (subscription required) story in The Wall Street Journal.

As BI points out, Yahoo co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo own nearly 10% of the company. As sources tells The Journal, their share of the company could combine a private equity stake to create an ownership block that would control 40% to 45% of the company after a stock buyback. Best of all, that would give the private equity firm control of the company without having to pay nearly $19 billion for it.

As they often do, The Journal’s sources said it is still too early to make a decision, and this was one of several options being discussed. As Yahoo admitted to Reuters last month, the company has been conducting a strategy review with longtime advisers at Allen & Co and Goldman Sachs, which reportedly began shortly after the firing of Carol Bartz as CEO in September. Along with a number of other suitors, Reuters reported that Bain Capital had expressed interest in Yahoo.

Read the whole story at Business Insider »