Yahoo kicks off auction for 3,000 patents worth $1bn - report

Tech company has hired Blackstone to help it to sell patents that date back to its IPO in 1996

Yahoo is looking to auction off about 3,000 patents and has hired boutique investment bank Blackstone, which specialises in patent sales, to oversee the sale.

The Wall Street Journal, citing "people familiar with the matter", said that the internet company had sent a letter to a range of potential buyers for the patents.

The patents are said to date back to Yahoo's initial public offering in 1996 and include its original search technology.

The company has set a mid-June deadline for preliminary bids.

In March, Yahoo announced that it was exploring the sale of non-core assets, including real estate and patents, which it valued at $1bn to $3bn.

Just yesterday, reports suggested that US telecoms giant Verizon and private investment firm TPG had offered bids for Yahoo's core internet business. Verizon, which has expanded its telecoms and cable business into the provision of online ads in recent years, is said to be offering about $3bn for Yahoo's core internet business, presumably with an interest in serving ads to Yahoo's one billion monthly visitors across its various web properties.

In April, Yahoo's core internet assets were valued at between $4bn and $8bn, meaning the reported Verizon bid has come in lower than these expectations.

There has been plenty of speculation surrounding Yahoo over the past year or so; in March it was reported that Microsoft had been in preliminary talks with private equity companies interested in acquiring Yahoo's core businesses, and in April Daily Mail publisher DMGT also confirmed it was in discussion with financiers to snap up the ailing internet giant, although in both case negotiations were said to be in the early stages. This week it was reported that Twitter has also been in talks with Yahoo.

Yahoo reported a quarterly loss of $99m (£68m) in April.