Softbank to divest holdings of US Yahoo's affiliates

[bill]

Forbes article [forbes.com]
Softbank Corp said it and its subsidiaries, SB Holdings Europe Ltd, Softbank Korea Co Ltd and Yahoo Japan Corp have reached an agreement with Yahoo! Inc of the United States to sell all their stakes in Yahoo!s affliates for a sum of about 500 mln usd.

Yahoo! Inc is seeking to wholly own the affiliates, Yahoo!UK Ltd, Yahoo!France SAS, Yahoo!Deutschland GmbH and Yahoo!Korea Corp, Softbank said in a statement.

How will this bode for Yahoo Korea's future? We know that Grendel thinks the US parent holds the strings too closely in Korea. This can only strengthen the parent company's position in these local units.

[GrendelKhan TSU]

came across another article about this in English and this quote struck me:

"The agreement to purchase the remaining shares not already owned by Yahoo! in Europe and Asia demonstrates the confidence that we have in our international businessesand our commitment to deliver long-term shareholder value," said Yahoo! Chief Executive Terry Semel. Yahoo! Japan continues to operate as a joint venture."

I really hope he isn't pretending to include Yahoo Korea in that. o_O

apparently, contrary to what I've been saying...they think they need MORE control here. :/

Considering the MSN/Daum thing... I'll plead the fifth on this one.

We'll just have to see. =P

[bill]

I still wonder why Korea gets lumped into that whole group for Yahoo. The Alibaba tie-up in China and the success in Japan lead me to believe they were going with more local control for Asian markets.

[GrendelKhan TSU]

I still wonder why Korea gets lumped into that whole group for Yahoo.

weak attempt at a cover up (for poor performance)? lol ;)