Yahoo in Talks with Alibaba.com
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Written By Reprise Media | August 10, 2005 | Share This
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Yet more evidence of the increased interest in China from Internet giants, Yahoo is in talks to acquire a 35% stake in the country’s second largest e-commerce entity, Alibaba.com.
Under the terms of the deal, Yahoo will hand over $1 billion as well as its China operations in exchange for a substantial stake in the company. Alibaba specializes in business-to-business e-commerce as well as operating a consumer-to-consumer online auction site called TaoBao which directly competes with the Chinese version of eBay.
Yahoo and Alibaba are both declining comment, though the media outlets are abuzz with the news. Some of the best coverage can be found in this latest Reuters report as well as this story in Forbes.
Acquiring Alibaba would be good move for Yahoo and better enable them to compete with Chinese search giants like investor darling Baidu as well as fellow search competitors like Google and eBay, both of whom are expanding their presences in China.
More here.
Topics: Investment, M&A |
This would mean that Yahoo! China would shift to more of a commerce platform than it does in the US, since Alibaba and its online auction site, Taobao is more focused on commerce and transactions than Yahoo! is in the US. It may also mean that Yahoo! has lost some interest in Sina, the leading portal, which it has had talks with. All in all, a sign that the Internet audience is fragmenting with Netease focused on gaming, Sina and Sohu on general audience, and Alibaba on commerce.