Alibaba Tests Waters for Yahoo Buyout – Again 阿里巴巴再试水竞购雅虎股权
Alibaba chief Jack Ma is clearly not someone to take “no” for an answer, as evidenced by his company’s latest effort to assemble a group to buy out its controlling shareholder, Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO). There’s not enough detail in a media report (English article) to make too much sense of this latest attempt, after Ma was rebuffed during the summer when he suggested a similar buyout. But all things considered, this new attempt could stand a much better chance of success. First the facts. The media report on the bid is coming out of New York, meaning the sources are probably private equity firms that are working with Alibaba on the deal, giving the story a bit more credibility. Given the history of Ma’s previous attempt at a buyout (previous post), I suspect that what’s happening now is that this latest group will propose buying out Yahoo and then immediately selling off its core US-based portal operations to a prearranged buyer. Ma’s Alibaba-led group would then be left with Yahoo’s two main Asian assets, namely the 40 percent it owns of Alibaba and its stake in Yahoo Japan (Tokyo: 4689), a joint venture with Japan’s Softbank (Tokyo: 9984). Not surprisingly, Softbank is also a member of the group that Alibaba is leading for this latest buyout deal, according to the report. I have to say that this deal, if this is indeed what’s happening, stands a much better chance of success than Ma’s earlier effort, as it would keep Yahoo’s core operations under US ownership and management while selling its 2 big Asian assets back to their respective local partners. In fact, Reuters reported earlier this week that another major private equity group, Thomas H. Lee Partners, was hoping to do a leveraged buyout of Yahoo’s US business (English article), meaning that bid would fit nicely with a split-up scenario that Alibaba and Softbank may be trying to engineer. According to the latest report, Alibaba would only formally launch its latest offer if Yahoo is interested in such a deal, meaning it won’t consider a hostile bid. But if a break-up is indeed part of Alibaba’s plan that would allow Yahoo’s core operation to remain in US hands, and if the price is right, this latest bid could stand a much better chance of success.
Bottom line: A new buyout attempt of Yahoo by an Alibaba-led group could stand a good chance of success if the aim is a break-up of Yahoo.
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ Alibaba Sharpens Focus in Yahoo Buy-Out, Taobao Mall 阿里巴巴回购雅虎所持股权有望
◙ Alibaba: The Little Genie That Roared?
◙ Alibaba’s Incredible Shrinking Profit Growth 阿里巴巴盈利呈加速放缓趋势
