Buffett, Quicken Loans CEO teaming to buy Yahoo?

A consortium headed by Warren Buffett and including the CEO of Quicken Loans have expressed interest in purchasing the internet assets of the beleaguered company

Warren Buffett and the founder of Quicken Loans are part of a consortium that has expressed interest in buying Yahoo’s internet assets.

Interest from Quicken Loans CEO Dan Gilbert and Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has given the beleaguered internet company a boost, according to a Reuters report. Yahoo has been outpaced in the battle for advertising dollars in recent years by competitors like Alphabet, Inc., which owns Google.

The consortium also casts doubt on the success of Verizon, the current favorite to buy Yahoo after the telecommunication comp-any’s $4.4 billion deal to acquire AOL last year.

It’s unclear whether Gilbert is using Quicken Loans as part of the consortium’s bid, Reuters reported. Quicken Loans declined to comment on the matter, as did Buffett.

Susan Decker, a former Yahoo executive who worked in several senior roles at the company, is now on Berkshire’s board. She spoke of the sale recently without mentioning Buffett’s interest in the company.

“I hope the next owner can do something to revitalize the spirit of the core things that made Yahoo very, very unique and create a distinction in consumers’ minds about why they love Yahoo still,” Decker told CNBC April 29. “It will be helpful if it is private of part of a much larger corporation to achieve that.”
 
Reuters reported last month that Yahoo had shortlisted close to 10 bidders in the auction for its assets, Susan Decker, who worked at Yahoo in several senior roles between 2000 and 2009, including president and chief financial officer, is now a director on Berkshire's board.