Former AOL chief raising money to buy Yahoo

If you thought you had heard it all about the fate of Yahoo, think again. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that former AOL chief executive Jonathan Miller, even in these tough economic times, is trying to raise money to buy the struggling Internet titan. The newspaper said Miller is trying to raise money from private equity and sovereign wealth investors. That rumor alone caused shares of Yahoo to spike 11 percent two days ago.

Some are skeptical that Miller can pull this off. "We think Yahoo is attractively valued, but that Miller would have difficulty raising this amount of capital, given the state of the global economy, of capital markets and of Yahoo itself," wrote Standard & Poor's Internet analyst Scott Kessler in a note.

Miller ran AOL from 2002 to 2006 and is looking to raise about $28 billion to $30 billion to purchase all of Yahoo. The newspaper noted that an investment in Yahoo would be risky given the current downturn in advertising and as the company is searching for a new chief executive. It also remains unclear whether Microsoft's on and off courtship of Yahoo could be revived. Miller is a partner at investment firm Velocity Interactive Group and has been involved as a behind-the-scenes adviser in discussions between Yahoo and Microsoft.

For more on the speculation about Yahoo's future:
- check out this CNN.com article

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