Prospective Yahoo buyers would have eyes on its customer data

Potential suitors for Yahoo's Internet business could include Verizon, Comcast and AT&T, which would want to access the company's 20-year-old treasure trove of customer data.

"Data mining [of customer data] is a huge need for all these guys," said Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates.

Carriers could use the Yahoo data to better gauge a customer's interest in certain topics and needs by better tracking their preferences for what they have historically clicked on and what ads they have bought from, Gold added.

"It's hard to assess what potential buyers would consider Yahoo's most valuable, relevant assets," added Bill Menezes, an analyst at Gartner. "It would be whatever [content or mobile ad] platforms Yahoo has created that are generating sustainable revenue or just the ability to tap into the Yahoo stream of aggregate user data. User data and platforms go hand in hand."

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