Jeff Smith, manager of activist hedge fund Starboard Value, presented to Yahoo’s board of directors on Wednesday, urging them to sell the internet business, according to a report in USA Today.
The Yahoo board is reportedly holding a three-day series of meetings to consider its various options, including whether to press ahead with a planned spin-off of its stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba that is slated to be completed in January, or whether to pursue other options such as selling Yahoo’s core internet business.
Starboard has called on Yahoo to abandon the spin-off plan because the risk of incurring a hefty tax bill is too large. Instead, Starboard wants Yahoo to sell the internet business, which consists of various online properties that have struggled to keep up with rivals such as Google and Facebook.
