Quoting people familiar with the situation, the daily said the board of directors of Yahoo! are searching for a new chief executive and have checked few references and a decision is likely to be taken in a few weeks.

"Among those being considered is Arun Sarin, who retired as chief executive of Vodafone Group PLC in July, according to people familiar with the matter," the WSJ said.

The report further added that "Yahoo! Inc directors steering the search for its new chief executive are moving closer to a recommendation and have authorized checking references on a few key candidates, say people familiar with the matter, although a decision is likely to be weeks away at the earliest".

After heading the world's largest mobile firm Vodafone for five years, Arun Sarin retired in July this year.

Last month, Yahoo Inc had said that Jerry Yang, the co-founder of Yahoo! will step down as the chief executive of the Internet giant, ending a 17-month long turbulent tenure, which saw him rejecting a takeover bid from Microsoft.

Yang's decision to step down followed months of criticism from various quarters on a range of issues including his move to shun Microsoft's 47.5 billion-dollar buyout offer.