Yahoo Suitors Expected to Bid $2 Billion to $3 Billion, Below Past Indications

“Verizon Communications Inc. and others are expected to bid around $2 billion to $3 billion in the auction for Yahoo Inc.’s core business,” Wall Street Journal sources report, “less than what the troubled Internet pioneer was expected to fetch.” The telecom giant is widely considered to be the front-runner in a field that includes private-equity buyers, some of whom appear positioned to bid in the low end of that range, the sources note. As recently as last month, people close to the process said Yahoo’s core business could fetch between $4 billion and $8 billion. To be sure, some offers could still be above the $2 billion-to-$3 billion range as it is generally in the interest of bidders to play down their enthusiasm in an auction. “It is also possible that not everyone will bid for all of the core business and that proposals will be structured differently,” the Journal adds.