Other companies, including eBay Inc (NSDQ: EBAY), Facebook Inc, and Twitter Inc EHarmony.com, use the software as an analytics tool as well. One possible scenario for the spin off would have Yahoo partnering with and take a significant stake in the new company. There are already outside companies that distribute Hadoop software, so Yahoo would ultimately be using the developer to compete against those established companies, such as IBM and Cloudera, the WSJ noted. While Yahoo didn't have any official comment, Rob Bearden, a partner at Benchmark Capital, told the WSJ that the VC firm has been in discussions with Yahoo about how it might form a Hadoop company. Bearden called Hadoop "the biggest movement in enterprise-software in years.".
Yahoo May Spin Off Hadoop Engineering Unit – paidContent