Arun Sarin, the former chief executive of telecom giant Vodafone, who was reportedly in the race for the CEO post at Internet major Yahoo has decided not to accept the offer, says a media report.

Instead, the India-origin Sarin is considering alternative roles at other US public companies in addition to at least one position at a private equity firm, the Financial Times reported.

"Arun Sarin, the former head of Vodafone, has decided not to pursue the possibility of becoming the next chief executive of Yahoo," it said.

Quoting people close to Sarin, the daily said Yahoo had expressed keen interest in the former Vodafone chief executive to succeed Jerry Yang.

"However, he is expected to tell Yahoo that he does not want the job, according to these people," the report published online said.

Further quoting people close to him, the daily said Sarin is considering alternative roles at other US public companies, plus at least one position at a private equity firm.

"It is understood that one reason for his rejection of Yahoo was a perceived risk that the company could be dismembered," the Financial Times said.

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal had reported that Sarin is being considered for the post of Yahoo CEO.

Quoting people familiar with the situation, WSJ had 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.

Jerry Yang, the current Yahoo CEO has been under fire for mainly opposing the 47.5-billion dollar takeover offer from Microsoft.

Yang, who is the co-founder of the internet firm, had in November announced that he would step down as the chief executive.

The Financial Times noted that during his five-year tenure as Vodafone chief executive that ended in July, Sarin supervised several acquisitions.

The buyouts include the $11-billion purchase last year of a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar, then India's fourth largest mobile operator, the report added.

Quoting a person close to Yahoo, the daily said that the company was looking at several candidates and the process was still in its early stages.

"People who are considering the position have their eyes wide open to what the opportunity is," the person was quoted as saying.

"For the right kind of candidate, it's an incredible challenge and an incredible opportunity. Yahoo is a company with tremendous assets and has some big decisions to make. The right kind of person is going to be interested and not concerned [by the possibility of a break-up]," it added.

The daily further noted that a final decision on who would replace Yang is not expected until early next year. "Sarin has strong connections in California, where he has family and friends.

From 2000 to 2001, he was chief executive of Infospace, an internet content company similar to Yahoo. He was also a board member of Cisco Systems," the report said.