Former Vodafone Group chief, Arun Sarin, has been tipped to be the new boss of Yahoo, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Yahoo has authorized reference checks for a few candidates in order to narrow the field even further so the informal search committee can make a recommendation to the Board of Directors, according to the report.

Sarin, 54, retired from Vodafone Group in May, after serving approximately five years as CEO of the European telecommunications giant. He was credited with realigning the company's focus on emerging markets, such as India.

He is also a fan of the idea of a mobile Internet.

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