JOIN USYahoo is selling its direct stake in Alibaba.com, of 57.48 million shares acquired at its initial public offering, the Dow Jones Newswires said, citing a term sheet it had seen. The newswires said that Yahoo will sell the shares for 19.80-20.30 Hong Kong dollars (US$2.54-2.60) each, representing a discount of 4.0 to 6.4 per cent on Alibaba.com’s closing price of Hong Kong $21.15 on Monday. John Spelich, Hong Kong-based Vice-President for international corporate affairs at Alibaba Group, the parent company of Alibaba.com, said they welcomed the share sale.
“We are pleased to learn of the Yahoo decision because having broader ownership of Alibaba.com with increased liquidity and support among institutional investors is what Alibaba.com hoped to achieve,” he said in a statement sent to AFP. Even after the discount, Yahoo will make a respectable profit of at least 47 per cent on the IPO price of US$13.50 less than two years ago, the newswires said.