Sunday, March 25, 2012

Yahoo and Alibaba resume negotiations

News this week: According to media reports, Yahoo and Alibaba Group have resumed informal talks one month after the breakdown in negotiations over Alibaba’s attempt to buyback Yahoo’s 40% majority stake in the Chinese e-commerce giant.

Yahoo, which also holds a 35% stake in Yahoo! Japan, is considering selling a portion of its 40% stake in Alibaba and all of its Yahoo Japan holdings in a tax-free deal worth about US$18 billion. Previous negotiations between Yahoo and Alibaba were unsuccessful as the two companies reportedly could not agree on the valuation of the assets and led to Alibaba’s withdrawal.

According to reports, Alibaba Group’s CFO, Joe Tsai was in California recently to meet with Yahoo’s CEO Scott Thompson and managing partner of SoftBank, Ronald Fisher.

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