VERIZON CFO: We could consider buying Yahoo's internet business

Thomson Reuters

(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc's finance chief, Fran Shammo, said the No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier could look at buying Yahoo Inc's core business, which includes Mail, its news and sports sites and advertising technology.

"If we see there is a strategic fit and it makes sense for our shareholders and we can return value, I mean we'll look at it, but at this point it's way too premature to talk about that one," Chief Financial Officer Shammo said.

Shammo was speaking at the UBS annual global media and communications conference in New York on Monday.

Verizon earlier this year bought AOL Inc in a $4.4 billion deal to push into mobile video and targeted advertising.

Yahoo's board met on Friday in the third and final day of meetings to consider various options for company including selling its struggling Internet business.

Yahoo's search and display ad businesses, which account for the lion's share of its total revenue, have been struggling and Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's efforts to revive the businesses have yielded little results.

Activist investor Starboard Value LP asked Yahoo last month to drop plans to spin off its stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd due to tax concerns, and instead urged the company to sell its core business.

(Reporting by Kshitiz Goliya in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)