A Yahoo! signs sits out front of their headquarters in Sunnyvale
A group is considering a $25 billion deal for Yahoo, according to reports. REUTERS

Yahoo Inc. will be closely watched in the U.S. stock market on Thursday after a report that Alibaba, Softbank Corp., Blackstone Group and Bain Capital are said to be in advanced discussions to make a bid for all of Yahoo.

A source said the groups including Asian partners are preparing a bid for Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) , in a deal that could value that company at roughly $25 billion. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Softbank are said to be in talks with Blackstone Group LP and Bain Capital LLC about making the bid to buy Yahoo outright.

In Frankfurt trading, Yahoo's shares rose 7.1 percent after the news. Meanwhile, in U.S. premarket trading on the Nasdaq shares jumped more than eight percent.

According to a report from CNBC, the companies are studying the deal closely and are pretty far down the road.

The formal offer has yet to be considered by Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo's board, according to reports.

Yahoo's board was already meeting to consider minority stake offers from at least two firms.

On Wednesday, Yahoo was in the news over a report that Silver Lake and a consortium of investors would bid for a majority stake in Yahoo, valuing shares at $16.60 each. Another report from Bloomberg suggested that private-equity firm TPG Capital may also be bidding for Yahoo with a higher offer.

One analyst said Yahoo should command a premium higher than $16.60 a share.

It definitely has to be much higher than $16.60, said Di Zhou, of Thornburg Investment Management, which oversees about $80 billion in assets, including Yahoo shares, according to Bloomberg.

Investment Silver California Management