I love you man!
Yahoo invests US$1b for 40% stake in Chinese alibaba.com Here is the deal that should finally put the dumb Broadcast.com (remember that?) deal into the past-history can.
Yahoo Inc. announced Thursday it would pay US$1 billion (euro810 million) in cash to acquire a 40 percent stake in the Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba.com.
As part of the deal, Yahoo has also agreed to contribute its China business to Alibaba, according to a joint statement from the two companies. The combined entity will also include 3721.com, a Chinese language search engine that Yahoo acquired last year, it said.
Yahoo will have 35 percent of voting rights in Alibaba as a result of the investment, said the statement, which was distributed at a press conference in Beijing.
Only the other 3 people who ever watch CCTV9 will already know this; so, I may as well mention it. After seeing 2 documentaries on Jack Ma and alibaba.com, I have to say he absolutely fits the mold of some of our own leading lights in Silicon Valley.
He started this company a couple of times, borrowing from family and friends, maxing out their credit cards, just about going under a couple more times. Obsessive, compulsive, anal, the sort of monomaniac we have all come to love and revere, he finally made it.
I’m willing to bet that, with money to burn, he’ll make good on all those failed auditions for Kung Fu movies and produce his own film — just so he can star in it. I’ll go see it, too. He deserves a bit of respect for winning.