Report: Time Inc. Weighing Yahoo Merger

by Joe Mandese , February 23, 2016

Even as giant telecoms such as AT&T and Verizon are circling bids to acquire Yahoo, old school publisher Time Inc. is weighing a bid, according to a report published this morning by Bloomberg. Citing unnamed sources, the report said Time Inc. CEO Joe Ripp is interested in some kind of merger with Yahoo.

What wasn’t clear was whether Time Inc. -- valued at $1.5 billion -- would mount a bid to acquire Yahoo’s assets from its shareholders, or if Time Inc. is discussing an alternative form of merging the two companies’ assets.

“Time Inc. may see it as a worthwhile effort, because it could pursue a structure with Yahoo called a Reverse Morris Trust,” Bloomberg reported, explaining it as, “a tax-free transaction in which one company merges with a spun-off subsidiary, the people said.”

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2 comments about "Report: Time Inc. Weighing Yahoo Merger".

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Henry Blaufox from Dragon360, February 23, 2016 at 11:24 a.m.
I have nothing but the greatest respect for Joe Ripp and his colleagues at Time Inc as they work to make this venerable firm a success in the new age. But is a combination with a company as damnaged as Yahoo a worthwhile use of management time and resources? If nothing else, remember that the AOL Time Warner merger at the start of the century by previous management was the company's undoing. Isn't the risk similar this time around?
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George Simpson from George H. Simpson Communications, February 23, 2016 at 11:50 a.m.

You would have thought they had learned SOMETHING from the AOL expereince.