Yahoo is reportedly in talks to purchase a controlling stake in online video website Dailymotion. The Internet pioneer could be prepared to buy up to 75 percent of the company as part of an ownership structure according to people familiar with the talks as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The acquisition would be the first major move under CEO Marissa Mayer since taking the position last year.
Buying a controlling stake in the site, which is believed to be valued around $300 million, would allow Yahoo to gain a wider audience with regards to online video in certain parts of Asia and Europe. Yahoo might have an option to buy the remaining stake in the site at a later date but one of the sources said the deal isn't imminent and could still falter.
The move seems like a good fit for Yahoo, as Mayer has stressed in the past the importance of investing in overseas markets. During an analyst conference last month, she said one of the challenges was that Yahoo is primarily domestic and they don't have enough of the business running from an international basis. More than 70 percent of the company's annual revenue comes from the Americas with most of that share originating in the US.
Based on unique viewer count, Dailymotion is the 12th largest video website in the world. The site pulled in 116 million uniques in January according to data from comScore. The site doesn't have a huge following in the US but is very popular in countries like Turkey and France. The two companies signed a deal just last year to syndicate videos on Yahoo's websites.