Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. is supporting a consortium that has bid to acquire the core assets of Yahoo, Inc., a report claimed at the weekend.

According to sources quoted by The New York Times, the Berkshire Hathaway backed consortium is being led by Quicken Loans founder and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and is being advised by two former Yahoo Executives, Dan Rosensweig, and Tim Cadogan.

The first round of bidding for Yahoo’s core assets, that is the company excluding its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Limited, closed April 18, and although the company itself has not yet released a list of who has placed a bid, the names of some of the companies are fairly well known, on top of Berkshire Hathaway.

Verizon Communications, Inc. remains the frontrunner as the company most likely to acquire Yahoo, given its experience in running a business similar to Yahoo (AOL, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong would run the business if it is acquired).

Also believed to have made the second round is a consortium backed by Vista Equity Partners and Bain Capital that is taking advice from former Yahoo Executives Ross Levinsohn, Bill Wise, and Ken Fuchs, and separate bids from TPG Capital and Sycamore Partners; although not confirmed there is believed to be 10 bids still in the running to acquire Yahoo in the second round, which leaves six further bidders unnamed.

Inside running

While many of the main bidders are well-credentialed, Berkshire Hathaway has one other card to play in terms of an inside running when it comes to its bid, and that’s former Yahoo Chief Financial Officer and President Susan Decker.

Decker served with Yahoo between 2000 and 2009, but since leaving the company has taken up a number of new roles, including one as a Berkshire Hathaway board member.

In an interview April 29, of note at the time she would have been well aware that Berkshire Hathaway was in the running for Yahoo, Decker spoke about Yahoo in particular, and didn’t hold back with her opinion.

“When you think of Yahoo, they had a shot to be what Vox is doing, in terms of taking content and distribution, and really focusing on news, sports, finance — the things that uniquely Yahoo was really terrific at — and really build that whole flywheel,” said told CNBC Squakbox.

“But unfortunately because of the breadth of what Yahoo does, they sort of became mediocre in so many properties,” she added.

On moving forward, Decker said in today’s media landscape companies should follow Vox’s model of building a multibrand strategy that leverages those names across different platforms, including podcasts and television.

“I hope the next owner can do something to revitalize the spirit of the core things that made Yahoo very, very unique,” she concluded.

This certainly sounds like a woman with a plan.

It’s not clear from reports when the second round of bidding will close, or whether Yahoo may simply agree to a buyer during this current stage of its sale.

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