

Alibaba's Ma: "very interested" in buying Yahoo - insraq
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/01/us-yahoo-alibaba-idUSTRE78T5TG20111001

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mustpax
Yahoo owns a roughly 39% stake in Alibaba which is by far the most valuable
asset on Yahoo's books. Alibaba has been wanting to repurchase this stake for
a while now. With Yahoo so cheap, buying the whole company might be the
easiest way to buy back the stock. The rest of Yahoo is just icing on the
Alibaba cake (if not an outright liability).

How times change.

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vaksel
I think we'll be seeing a lot more of this, since China has really come into
it's own and has cash to spend

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justincormack
China of course has a few trillion in US Treasury bills burning a hole in its
pocket (they dont belong to Alibaba but they presumably have RMB to change for
them). The only sane solution for China is to start buying real assets in the
US. One official recently suggested they buy Intel, Apple and Boeing. But hey
why not Yahoo too. There will be a lot of these purchases coming up.

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0x12
I can see Apple being on that list, but Intel and Boeing are of strategic
importance to the US and I don't think congress would agree with such sales
just like that.

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patio11
Yahoo's a funny duck: they're an Asian Internet powerhouse attached to a ...
searching for a word here... rudderless US tech company.

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EGreg
Well, Jerry Yang speaks Chinese... :)

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xyahoo
It's all starting to make sense now.

Carol Bartz and Jack Ma did not get along at all. She chewed him out in front
of his underlings in Sunnyvale when they first met; and he never forgave her
for that. Getting insulted in front of your underlings is a huge deal in many
cultures.

If Bartz was still the CEO, she would have torpedoed any possible deal like
this. So she had to go. The Board fired her to pave the way for Ma to put
together a deal.

Ma says he'll be spending the next year in the US, "studying the market". Why
the heck would he be wasting time here, when he already has a huge company to
run in China, if he didn't intend on making a massive acquisition?

The next few months should be "interesting", if you're a Yahoo.

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patio11
Oh those wacky Asians with their totally-unknown-in-the-West cultural
practices like remembering petty grievances, having personality conflicts with
bosses, and running Yahoo.

Seriously for a second: any time you feel the need to explain behavior by
reference to culture, consider the compelling alternative that they're a real
person just like you.

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xyahoo
Notice I said "many cultures". For example: in some Arab cultures, if you sit
with your sole (of your foot) towards the other person, it is considered an
insult. I remember Diane Sawyer(?) of ABC going to interview Saddam Hussein;
she sat with her sole towards him and he walked out. Of course, she didn't
know; but these things happen.

Before you read too much into a statement (I will once again point out the
"many cultures" part), please read what's written. I know, every one's on a
hair trigger to jump on the slightest perceived slight on the Internet; but
take a chill pill, man.

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hugh4life
"The whole piece of Yahoo,"

Hah buddy, as long as you're a citizen of communist china you're not going to
get "Yahoo Mail" nor "Yahoo Instant Messenger"... keep dreaming.

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riobard
Unfortunately they already did. See <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shi_Tao> for
the details. Long stories short: Yahoo's Hong Kong arm gave private emails to
the Chinese government which resulted a guy being jailed for 10 years. You'd
better worry about Yahoo's ethics now. To date, the only mail provider I trust
is Google.

By the way, demonizing anyone because s/he is from "communist China" is plain
stupid. I'm pretty sure you'll get downvoted on HN.

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hugh4life
I'm not "demonizing" anyone... you are a complete idiot. The US government
would not allow this transaction to occur. That is a fact. And I'm pretty sure
you're the one guy who downvoted me... and I don't really care if more
downvote me because HN is quite a conformist hivemind.

BTW, I already knew about that case... and it changes nothing.

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jonursenbach
Calm down, bro.

