Yahoo looking to acquire 35% of AliBaba in China.

[Shak]

SHANGHAI - Web media company Yahoo! is in advanced talks to purchase an approximately 35% stake in China’s biggest homegrown e-commerce company for almost $1 billion, in what would be the biggest investment by a foreign company in China’s Internet industry to date, sources close to the negotiations said.

[forbes.com...]

Shak

[bill]

This looks to be a very wise move on Yahoo's part. They have taken a slow, long-term approach to the China market. I think they have assessed the market from an experienced local perspective, and are backing the strongest player in this market.

In comparison, companies like eBay and Google come off as cowboys with limited local market footholds. I've already seen eBay flee Japan in the face of Yahoo/SoftBank...it will be interesting to see if they do any better in China in light of this new alliance.

[tcpn8]

So the rumors continue...

Chinese business to business website Alibaba will transfer a 35 percent stake of the company to Yahoo and in return gain control of Yahoo China's core businesses, reports Sina quoting an inside source.

[pacificepoch.com...]

This would make things even more interesting....as I see it yahoo would basically be saying: look we have had a hard time making things work in China, but you guys are the experts, so here are our china assets...make it work for us....

Interestingly CCTV reported that not only would they swap assets but yahoo would also throw in 1 billion dollars....I'm guessing someone over there added the two stories together but you never know.....

[tcpn8]

Well it's official

BEIJING (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc. (NasdaqNM:YHOO - News) said on Thursday it will pay $1 billion in cash and swap its China operations for a 40 percent interest in China's second-largest Internet auctioneer, Alibaba.com.

Looks like ebay is going to have a series battle on their hands, it will also be interesting to see how well they integrate these assets together.

[bill]

I missed this article earlier. The same day that we learned Yahoo was officially buying into Alibaba the news that Japan's Softbank sold part of its stake in Alibaba.com for US$360 million [forbes.com].

[Import Export]

Now that is interesting!

[Webwork]

Not a bad ROI since, if memory serves me, Softbank invested "only" $20 million in Alibaba and I believe Softbank was the major investor, i.e., also owned a major interest.

Since Softbank VC money also funded Yahoo it is interesting to see how VC money is being "moved around" to yield some handsome profits, no doubt.

[bill]

There is a very complex set of relationships here among Alibaba, Yahoo, Softbank and Yahoo Japan. The Softbank buy-in to Taobao never disclosed the percentage of ownership (that I have seen), so I'm still wondering how much of their ownership Mr. Son actually sold.