Will this man buy Yahoo? [Updated]

Jonathan Miller a veteran of the Internet business is looking to raise funds to purchase Yahoo reports Reuters.

Yes, you may laugh at the possibility that one man may find the funds to official purchase the company, however Miller is no average man. He was CEO of AOL for four years and a founding partner of the Velocity Interactive Group investment firm, if there’s anyone out that can do it – he can.

According to Jessica E. Vascellaro of the WSJ, “Mr. Miller has been talking to private equity investors and sovereign wealth funds for months in hopes of raising money for a Yahoo deal.”

In regards to how much Miller is looking to raise, Vascellaro elaborated “Mr. Miller believes he can do a deal that would be worth around $20 to $22 a share to Yahoo shareholders . . . which would involve raising about $28 billion to $30 billion to purchase the entire company.”

With Yahoo’s stock currently at 11.50, it values the company at approx $15.94 billion which would be pretty favorable to Yahoo shareholders and board members.

The big question is, is this true and will Miller find the money?

**Update**

Techcrunch have just posted that the story may be bogus stating

“Our sources say that while Miller and Levinsohn have been talking to Yahoo and Microsoft executives and shareholders for months about Yahoo’s future (and at different times both Miller and Levinsohn have been proposed as Yahoo board members), they have not had any serious discussions with private equity funds about raising capital to take over the company.”

With the Wall Street Journal initially posting the story, Reuters picking it up and the Times featuring the story this weekend – could big media have got it very wrong?

Image Credit Informitv.com