Yahoo!'s market cap is $34B [1].

Granted, most of that market cap value is tied up in the 15% ownership of Alibaba (market cap of $188B / yahoo's piece is $28B)[2][3]

Makes for an interesting thought experience on what the actual value of core Yahoo! really is.

And yes, $6-8B doesn't sound bad for a company with 1B unique vistors, but then again last year Yahoo! lost $4.4B [4]

[1] https://www.google.com/finance?q=yahoo&ei=-o8jV7HsKoWMmAGQ1I...

[2] http://www.google.com/finance?cid=658890

[3] http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/how-yahoos-spinoff-of...

[4] http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AYHOO&fstype=ii&ei=F...

Who wants to catch a falling knife [1] ?

[1] http://wiki.fool.com/Falling_knife

I'm assuming WhatsApp had a pretty clear growth trajectory to better justify that valuation. Yahoo has been stagnant for years.

The issue with WhatsApp is that it never had a sustainable business model. First it was free with the hope of monetizing. Then it was free for a year, but a buck afterwards (pretty good if you ask me). Then WhatsApp found many users could partake of the e-economy due to lacking debit/credit cards, so it went back to free with some idea of Corporate relationships paying for things. (http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/040915...)

While Yahoo has been stagnant, it makes money.

I think it's also because WhatsApp had special value to FB as part of a strategic partnership.