Apollo Global Management is having preliminary discussions with sports betting companies to merge their assets with Yahoo Sports, as reported by CNBC.
The private equity firm acquired Yahoo from Verizon for $5bn last year. According to people familiar with the matter, one of the companies Yahoo has met with is PointsBet Holdings. The Australian group has a market valuation of around $760m.
Apollo and Yahoo are considering merging Yahoo Sports with an existing sports betting company and could set up an eventual spin-off of Yahoo Sports. The new company would likely keep the Yahoo branding.
Yahoo was an early provider of fantasy sports tools and has millions of players who would likely be crossover candidates for legalised sports betting.
Importantly, talks remain early at this stage, and no deal is imminent, with spokespeople for Yahoo, Apollo and PointsBet all declining to comment.
