Of the 40 firms said to be interested in buying Yahoo, or parts of it, many have decided not to make a bid ahead of today’s deadline for preliminary bids, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), boosting Verizon’s chances of acquiring the internet company.

This includes Time, Alphabet, Comcast and AT&T.

Time reportedly felt improving the troubled company’s prospects would prove difficult, while others may have been put off by the shrinking of Yahoo’s web business, likely to see sharp declines in profit. Others are frustrated by the company’s managers not answering detailed questions about its business prospects, WSJ quoted sources as saying.

This leaves private equity firms as Verizon’s main competition, such as Bain Capital, TPG and KKR. The UK’s Daily Mail & General Trust is also still talking to private equity firms about partnering on a bid.

Unlike the WSJ report today, a Bloomberg report from Friday did not discount Time and Alphabet in its list of potential suitors (along with Bain, Daily Mail, Verizon and TPG).

WSJ also said Verizon wants to create an online advertising technology platform to rival Facebook and Google, and Yahoo, along with AOL, could help it achieve that.

Last week, Yahoo made an amendment to its executive contracts to ensure payouts should it sell parts of its business.