Yahoo May Get Rid of Stake in Yahoo Japan to Simplify Possible Future Sale

With Yahoo's faith hanging in the balance and even the people in charge unsure what to do next, the rumor mill is having a field day digging up potential buyers or other strategic moves for the company.

The latest rumor says that Yahoo is looking to sell its stake in Yahoo Japan, not exactly the hardest bet to make, and that it's very close to doing so.

That deal may end within weeks and Yahoo is said to sell its stake most likely to non-US investors.

Despite the name 'similarity' Yahoo only owns 35 percent of Yahoo Japan. Much of the rest belongs to Softbank, the Japanese communications giant. Yahoo's relationship with Softbank hasn't been great in recent years, though it's not nearly as bad as with Alibaba which owns Yahoo China.

One of the best examples of the cold relationship between Yahoo Japan and Yahoo is the fact that the Japanese portal decided to use Google to power its searches instead of Bing which was Yahoo's choice.

Yahoo Japan is worth more than Yahoo itself at this point, so its 35 percent stake could end up being worth quite a lot of money. There are plenty of people interested in it as well, so selling it won't be a problem.

The idea is that, with Yahoo Japan gone, Yahoo's future strategy could be easier to carve out, or, more bluntly put, Yahoo would be easier to sell.

However, any rumors around Yahoo have to be taken with a grain of salt these days.

Bankers have been giddy with excitement at the prospect of multi billion dollar Yahoo sale and the commission it entails and have been more than willing to take the tiniest bit of speculation and turn it into near fact.

For example, the Microsoft acquisition rumor that's been making the rounds these last few days, on which All Things D has been quick to pour cold water.