Yahoo's co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang is eying a private equity to buy out the Yahoo, taking the company private

Yahoo's co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang is eying a private equity to buy out the Yahoo, taking the company private, Reuters reported quoting a source.

Meanwhile, negotiations with potential equity firms, including Bain Capital, Silver Lake Partners, and Hellman and Friedman according to the report, are still informal.

Jerry Yang's power has been draining away since 2008 when it refused Microsoft's take-over bid.

Alibaba leader Jack Ma recently said he was very interested in buying Yahoo, who owns a stake in Alibaba.

A deal with private equity firms would involve rolling over Yang's stake in yahoo, which stood at 3.63 percent as of April 2. Another source close to Yahoo said David Filo, the other co-founder of Yahoo, would also retain his stake. David Filo has 5.9 percent of Yahoo stake ending May 11.