Yahoo May Buy 35% of China’s Biggest Home-grown e-Commerce Company Alibaba.com for $1 Billion

From Forbes: Yahoo! in Talks on Record China Investment

"Web media company Yahoo! is in advanced talks to purchase an approximately 35% stake in China’s biggest home-grown 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."

"Yahoo! would be gaining one of China’s most coveted Internet partners. Alibaba.com is led by Jack Ma, a one-time English teacher whose unpretentious style and quick wit have made him one of China’s most revered entrepreneurs. Alibaba operates two online business sites ---Taobao.com, an online auction site, and Alibaba.com, an online trading site. Both were ranked among the world’s top 40 websites on Sunday by the Alexa, the Internet monitoring service."

"An agreement between Yahoo and Alibaba would be a setback for eBay which has been expanding its investments in China’s online auction business and had been seen as interested in partnering with Alibaba. The U.S. company purchased locally owned Eachnet, then China’s biggest online auction site, in two stages for $180 million in 2002 and 2003. For Alibaba, a hook-up with Yahoo! rather than eBay might make more sense because there is less overlap with its core online auction business. It would also bring Alibaba the chance to tap into Yahoo!’s search expertise."

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