The rift between Marissa Mayer and the Yahoo board is widening — and the bankers are taking sides, too.
Mayer — the Web portal’s embattled 40-year-old chief executive — is turning to Silicon Valley dealmaker Frank Quattrone for advice as she resists mounting investor pressure to sell Yahoo’s core businesses, sources told The Post.
Meanwhile, Mayer’s six fellow directors on the shrinking Yahoo board are consulting with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Evercore Partners as they start to lean toward a possible sale, sources said on Thursday.
On Friday, Yahoo Inc said its board has formed a committee of independent directors to explore strategic alternatives, alongside Mayer’s plan to revamp and spin off its Internet business.
Yahoo said the committee has hired Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and PJT Partners as financial advisers, and Cravath, Swaine & Moore as its legal adviser. Yahoo didn’t mention Quattrone.
Yahoo also didn’t mention Evercore Partners in its Friday announcement, but the firm has been hired as a defense adviser in its looming proxy battle, according to a source.
Mayer effectively tapped Quattrone as a “personal” adviser last month as her relationship with the rest of the board became more strained, according to a source briefed on the situation.
Quattrone — who in January stepped down as CEO of Qatalyst Partners, the San Francisco investment bank he founded eight years ago — is “advising [Mayer] on all matters, including what to do with Yahoo,” according to the source.
Reps for Yahoo declined to comment. Quattrone didn’t return calls.
Quattrone’s unusual role as consigliere to Mayer has been a growing source of exasperation for Goldman, JPMorgan and Evercore Partners, insiders added.
“It’s a totally dysfunctional situation,” one insider griped, noting that confusion has reigned as prospective buyers have been getting conflicting signals from Quattrone on one side and Goldman, JPM and Evercore on the other.
It’s not clear whether Quattrone is being paid by Mayer or by the company.
News of Quattrone’s Yahoo gig was first reported on Feb. 3 by Re/code.
The stakes are rising for Mayer as activist hedge-fund Starboard Value, which has called for her ouster, has hired proxy solicitor Okapi Partners to recruit Yahoo shareholders for a possible board shake-up this spring, sources said.
Earlier this month, Yahoo said it will lay off 15 percent of its workforce, or about 1,500 employees. That total is too small to please Starboard and other cage-rattling funds such as SpringOwl, which has called for firing all but 3,000 of Yahoo’s 10,000-plus workers.
The Post reported last month that some investors agitating for a sale were getting sympathetic “body language” from some Yahoo board members — while Mayer was less focused on a sale.