Alibaba negotiating total Yahoo buyout

Edited and translated by People's Daily Online

Alibaba Group and Softbank Corporation are reportedly in advanced talks with Blackstone Group and Bain Capital about making a bid for all of Yahoo. According to a Reuters report, the Alibaba-led group plans to buy Yahoo in its entirety for about 20 dollars per share, instead of only buying a minority stake as previously reported. Blackstone and Bain Capital are said to have agreed to cooperate with Alibaba in this regard.

The manager of Alibaba's public relations department declined comment about this bid, while Sina Tech reported that Alibaba spokesman John Spelich denied any finalized plan to buy Yahoo, saying, "Alibaba Group has not made a decision to be part of a whole-company bid for Yahoo."

It was reported earlier that Alibaba was mobilizing funds to tender an offer for, rather than a hostile takeover of, Yahoo.

However, the four companies are said to have different intentions in making the bid. Alibaba is seeking to buy back the 40 percent stake in its company that Yahoo owns. Softbank, meanwhile, wants to acquire Yahoo’s 35 percent stake in Yahoo Japan. In the proposed deal, Blackstone and Bain Capital would take control of Yahoo’s U.S. operations. Softbank declined to comment about the deal.

Alibaba CEO Jack Ma publicly acknowledged in late September that his company would like to buy Yahoo. In addition to some other disputes, Alibaba had previously negotiated with Yahoo to buy its 40 percent stake back, but failed.