Business | Technology
Alibaba ready to acquire Yahoo's stake
Alibaba.com, the closely held Chinese internet company whose biggest shareholder is Yahoo!, is ready for a possible purchase of the US company's stake in it if the shares are offered.
- Bloomberg
- Published: 00:09 August 3, 2008
Beijing: Alibaba.com, the closely held Chinese internet company whose biggest shareholder is Yahoo!, is ready for a possible purchase of the US company's stake in it if the shares are offered.
"We are very well prepared," Alibaba chairman Jack Ma said on Saturday at a briefing in Hangzhou, east China, where the company is based. Alibaba chief financial officer Joseph Tsai is spending most of his time evaluating the situation, Ma said, without saying if the company would buy Yahoo's stake or giving details.
Yahoo said last month it may sell its Asian assets to boost investor value after signing an agreement that ended billionaire Carl Icahn's bid to oust the company's board and restart talks for Microsoft to buy the Sunnyvale, California-based web portal. Those Asian assets include a 39 per cent stake in Alibaba.
"It would be very positive for Alibaba if they buy Yahoo's stake," Eric Wen, an analyst at MainFirst Bank in Hong Kong, said before the briefing. "The biggest benefit of Alibaba's management having more control is that they'd also have more incentive to improve the company's performance," said Wen, who recommends buying shares of Hong Kong-listed unit Alibaba.com.
Yahoo swapped $1 billion and its China unit in 2005 for the stake in Alibaba. Under their contract, Alibaba would have the right to buy Yahoo's stake if the US company were to be taken over.
Yahoo chief executive officer Jerry Yang is one of four directors on Alibaba's board.
Ma and Yang have spoken by telephone after Microsoft began its bid in February to acquire Yahoo and in those conversations "never talked about business,'' Ma said yesterday. The two talked courage, leadership and the need "to stay calm. It's tough being a CEO," he said.
Yahoo would most likely sell its stake in Yahoo Japan to Softbank should it decide to shed the asset.
More from Technology
More from Business
Business Editor's choice
-
Do unemployment figures flatter to deceive?
Jobseekers and recruiters give out mixed signals ranging from optimism to downright despair even as official data show recovery
-
Banks can increase their share
Longer opening hours, more locations outside cities and lower charges can help
-
Geepas idea blossomed in Dubai
The journey led from a small shop in Bahrain to a $1.27b company in the UAE
