[nabla9]

It seems that Buffett is helping finance the offer. He might not be the part of the consortium. He may have arranged a loan for them. That would be more the style of Buffet. Selling pickaxes during a gold rush. He rarely invests directly in technology companies.

>The consortium is in the second round of bidding in the auction for Yahoo's assets, the people said. Buffett is helping finance the offer, one of the people added.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yahoo-m-a-buffett-idUSKCN0...

[fiatmoney]

Yeah, Buffett prefers buying high free cash flow assets, ideally backed by some kind of monopoly or other barrier to entry, and then using the cheap money to offer exactly this kind of financing. Buying Yahoo assets themselves wouldn't be at all his style.

[tacos]

Yup, he buys well-run companies then leaves the managers to do their thing, offering capital when needed. Yahoo is the most anti-Buffett company on Earth.

This is more like when he loaned money to GE. Hope this bid wins, I always love learning how he structures his deals.

[throwaway5752]

Explain his buying newspapers! (I'm being tongue in cheek, I understand how they fit into his cash flow/moat profile). Yahoo! assets could be understood through that lens.

Agree, it's more likely it's a favorable loan term (perhaps what he did with GS - high coupon preferred redeemable for common).