The 'for sale' sign is up at Yahoo

Baku. 20 February. REPORT.AZ/ Yahoo officially launched the sale of its core business on Friday, a move seen as a positive step for frustrated investors but not enough to keep an activist hedge fund from pursuing a proxy fight against the struggling Internet company.

Report informs citing the foreign media, Yahoo shares jumped after the company announced its board has formed a committee of independent directors to explore strategic alternatives, and that it has hired investment banks and a law firm to run the process.

The launch of the auction process, a move activist hedge fund Starboard Value and other shareholders have pushed since late last year, showed the company was moving another step closer to selling its core business, which includes search, mail and news sites, rather than spin it off as previously planned.

The move follows more than three years of effort by CEO Marissa Mayer to turn around Yahoo by focusing on mobile apps and trying to boost advertising revenue.

Yahoo had acknowledged during its earnings last month that it was open to exploring options for its core business.

Despite the launch, Starboard's founder Jeffrey Smith is not backing down, and will continue his pursuit of nominating a group of directors for the Yahoo board, people familiar with the matter said.

Smith stated in a letter to the board on Jan. 6 that if the board is unwilling to accept the need for significant change, "then an election contest may very well be needed so that shareholders can replace a majority of the Board with directors who will represent their best interests."

Even though the board is showing that it's now willing to accept that need, Smith is still going to nominate a slate of directors to ensure that the sales process is handled properly, people familiar with the matter said.