The answer to that question will depend on whether Yahoo finds the right suitor. There has been some controversy over the bidding, in that the company is insisting as part of any potential deal that there be a prohibition against any potential suitor talking with another about the details of their takeover offers.

A recent entrant into the fray is TPG Capital which, like Yahoo, is based in San Francisco. TPG Capital is beginning due diligence work to determine if an acquisition of the Internet company makes sense. Currently, Yahoo's market value is nearly $20 billion.

According to reports, TPG is currently only interested in purchasing a minority investment -- something like 20 percent of shares. However, after the initial investment, TPG's eventual goal would be to control a majority of Yahoo through a stock buyback.

This is only a preliminary speculation about a potential merger or acquisition, as the information is being kept quite close to Yahoo's vest. It is entirely possible that TPG will decide not to buy in, or that Yahoo's board will choose to sell the company as a whole to another investor.

TPG is not the only potential investor that has expressed interest in Yahoo. Any deal would of course have to be approved by Yahoo's board of directors, and it is possible that Yahoo is simply trying to increase its leverage by entertaining offers from various investors while prohibiting them from talking to each other. It certainly seems like a good strategy from Yahoo's point of view in order to maintain control of the situation.

In the meantime, both of these California companies will have to decide whether a deal between them is advantageous. It will be interesting to see how things unfold for Yahoo.

Source: The New York Times, "TPG Capital Enters the Fray for Yahoo," Michael J. De La Merced and Evelyn M. Rusli, Nov. 3, 2011