Yahoo Takes "For Sale" Sign Down With Thompson

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What should we take from Yahoo's appointment of PayPal exec Scott Thompson to be CEO of the search and online content company? After all, ever since Yahoo canned Carol Bartz from the top job in September, Silicon Valley wags have been wondering if the Bartz firing was a sign that Yahoo would either get sold off or taken private.

By tapping Thompson today, the conventional wisdom seems to be that Yahoo isn't for sale. That's the read by Cromwell Schubarth, our colleague at the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. Here's why:

Private equity firms prefer not to attempt hostile takeovers, and now that Yahoo has a CEO, they would have to sign on with the new leader if they take a minority stake.

A wild card in that regard is Alibaba Group Holding chief Jack Ma, who said soon after Bartz was fired that he had enough cash to buy all of Yahoo. But his real interest all among has been to buy back the large stake in his Chinese Internet giant that Yahoo holds.

If Yahoo can find a way to make that happen without incurring a large tax hit, a plan that is reportedly in the works, that would appear to avert that possible hostile bidder too.

Investors are reading all of this as a sign that there won't be any big takeover battle for Yahoo and sent the stock down by about 2 percent on Wednesday.

For more on the story or continuing coverage of the goings on at Yahoo, check out the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal.