One of the oldest and most well-known online companies, Yahoo, may be putting its core business up for sale. The WSJ's Rick Carew explains why. 
 
 Yahoo Inc.’s board is planning a series of meetings this week to consider selling off the company’s flagging Internet businesses and how to make the most of its valuable stake in Chinese e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. 
 
 The board is expected to discuss its options in sessions beginning Wednesday and continuing through Friday, according to people familiar with the plans. 
 
 Directors... ||||| Yahoo's board is debating selling some of its core assets, CNBC learned Wednesday from sources close to the matter. 
 
 Shares of Yahoo were up more than 6 percent midmorning Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal originally reported the news on Tuesday regarding the tech company. 
 
 The board will meet Wednesday to review the plan for its spinoff of $32 billion in Alibaba shares and possibly debate selling Yahoo's core online businesses, the sources told CNBC. The board has received letters from multiple shareholders in recent days regarding the plan, CNBC has learned. 
 
 Shortly after the Journal report Tuesday, more than 300,000 Yahoo shares changed hands in after-hours trading, pushing the stock up 5.6 percent to $35.60. 
 
 Ivan Feinseth, chief investment officer of Tigress Financial Partners, told CNBC that if Yahoo was to sell its main growth operations — the mobile, video, native advertising and social media (Mavens) units — all that would remain would be the poorly performing Internet search business. Selling both Mavens and the search unit would mean "there would be nothing left of the company," he said. 
 
 "I don't know why anybody would want to buy a line of business that's in decline and has stiff competition from Google and Microsoft," Feinseth said, referring to the search and "paid click advertising" unit. Alibaba itself could be interesting in buying the Mavens business, he added.
– Yahoo's board will meet later this week to discuss selling the company lock, stock, and Alibaba, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The sources say that board members are worried about CEO Marissa Mayer's slow progress in turning the company around and are considering selling off Yahoo's "core Internet businesses," as well as its 15% stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which is valued at around $32 billion. Yahoo, despite years of decline, is still a major Internet player with more than 1 billion users worldwide, meaning buyers could gain instant access to a huge audience, Quartz notes. Alibaba founder Jack Ma is rumored to be among the potential buyers. It's not clear exactly what "core businesses" the board is thinking about selling, but selling all of Yahoo's Internet businesses would mean "there would be nothing left of the company," a Tigress Financial Partners analyst tells CNBC, adding that it may be hard to find a buyer for Yahoo's search unit, which is "in decline and has stiff competition from Google and Microsoft." But for potential buyers, the price could be attractive: The Alibaba stake alone exceeds Yahoo's $31 billion market capitalization, meaning investors "are valuing Yahoo's core business at less than zero," the Journal notes. (In October, Yahoo disclosed that its foray into creating original TV shows had cost it $42 million.)