China's Alibaba Interested In Buying Yahoo 56
jfruhlinger writes "Alibaba is a company that most Americans probably haven't heard of, but it's a hugely important Internet player in China, owning the Yahoo! China site as well as a host of other marketplace Websites. It's 40 percent owned by Yahoo, but now, in what seems a bit like a snake eating its own tail, Alibaba CEO Jack Ma has declared his interest in buying the embattled Internet portal outright." The San Francisco Chronicle has a Bloomberg News article with more details; they report that Alibaba is actually one of three parties looking into a joint bid for Yahoo, the others being the equity firm Silver Lake and Russian tech investor Digital Sky Technologies.
I'm confused (Score:2)
they report that Alibaba is actually one of three parties looking into a joint bid for Yahoo, the others being the equity firm Silver Lake and Russian tech investor Digital Sky Technologies.
So how's the joke supposed to go now? "In capitalist Russia, Chinese employee buys YAHOO!"?
Re:I'm confused (Score:4, Informative)
they report that Alibaba is actually one of three parties looking into a joint bid for Yahoo, the others being the equity firm Silver Lake and Russian tech investor Digital Sky Technologies.
So how's the joke supposed to go now? "In capitalist Russia, Chinese employee buys YAHOO!"?
In Soviet China Yahoo searches for YOU!
perhaps a snake extracting its tail (Score:4, Interesting)
Alibaba's been interested in buying back the Yahoo-owned portion of the company for a while, and with Yahoo's current stock price and the success of Alibaba, just buying Yahoo might be a reasonably cost-effective way to buy itself back.
Please no (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I hit Alibaba.com and it didn't look that bad. No worse than any other generic or broad commerce site like Craigslist or eBay or Amazon.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Mod up! Alibaba is nothing more than search engine pollution.
Thanks for the reminder. Just added it to my hosts blockfile. :)
Re: (Score:2)
You wouldn't believe how much crap the Chinese people tolerate on web sites.
Between the slow spyware ridden browsers, IE6-only Javascript errors, malfunctioning ad popups, and general poor user interfaces etc., they somehow manage to use those sites.
It's amazing.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, Ali Baba did hang around with a bunch of thieves. If that doesn't set the alarm bells ringing I don't know what would.
Re: (Score:2)
Ali Baba was actually the nemesis of the titular band of thieves [wikipedia.org]. He stole from the cave in which they stored their gold by eavesdropping and learning the password ("open sesame").
His clever slave-girl managed to kill the thieves when they came in search of vengeance.
This is all off-topic, just noticed that you were clearly unfamiliar with anything other than the title of the story you referenced. Similar to claiming, "Indiana Jones's HQ is the Temple of Doom, after all, so we shouldn't be surprised that Jo
Re: (Score:2)
In my defence I haven't heard/read/seen the story in well over 30 years. And accuracy would have been even more appropriate, since Ali Baba was both a thief (though not one of the 40, he just stole from them) and a slave owner, so fair call.
Sell off America (Score:2)
I noticed several brand names I associate with "America" are now owned by some one else, I wonder if selling off Yahoo would the loss of all the American jobs hired there.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/08/american-brands-in-foreig_n_755900.html#s152955&title=Budweiser [huffingtonpost.com]
But hey what's in a name right.
Re: (Score:2)
I noticed several brand names I associate with "America" are now owned by some one else, I wonder if selling off Yahoo would the loss of all the American jobs hired there.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/08/american-brands-in-foreig_n_755900.html#s152955&title=Budweiser [huffingtonpost.com]
But hey what's in a name right.
Before the 1960's the largest foreign holders of property in America were the Netherlands.
In the 1970's people (particularly where I lived) were alarmed when the Saudis came in and began buying obscure local banks, companies and properties.
In the 1980's the Japanese were buying up golf courses, movie studios, huge ranches, you name it.
Now the Chinese are looking to buy and people are getting worried all over again.
I'll only worry when they make a bid for the State of California.
Re: (Score:3)
The Chicoms are too smart to make a bonehead move like that.
Yeah, the last thing the Chinese need is for their country to be flooded with Communists.
Re: (Score:1)
Yes but you can't really move a building or a golf course, Internet companies can have their physical servers anywhere, so why would you buy Yahoo and keep all the American fat when you can easily transition to a well educated and cheaper workforce in China?
Re: (Score:2)
But fat uneducated Americans deserve jobs!
Re: (Score:1)
My view on what is "deserved" has changed quite a bit, no one really "deserves" anything in the truest sense, you want that land? Can you hold it? You want that job? Can you work it?
Some one had to hold the land, some one had to make the law, some one had to enforce it, and some one had to tell you you deserve something.
But in reality with out the prior being true then your deserving and your rights are not true and certainly not the reality of life (try explaining your rights and what you deserve to a hung
Re: (Score:2)
Nothing a few bribes or lobbyists won't fix.
If the RIAA/MPAA have proven anything, The US government is for sale to the highest bidder.
The "Occupy Wall Street" thing might change things but only if they go totally "muslim spring".
Re: (Score:2)
"The U.S. will not allow such a sale to proceed."
+5 Funny!
Hooray for hypocrisy! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That isn't hypocrisy. It's self-interest. Their policies are internally consistent: they desire a strong China. Not permitting foreign investors, and permitting local investments to be made in foreign markets makes for a strong China. Not that I agree with it, mind you. But that's how it appears.
Re: (Score:2)
Because this is an economic practice that only works when you're a developing country with a consumer base that foreign companies are drooling over to get access to. This practice will die once the Chinese market matures, because foreign companies will either be there already, or will have decided against entering it.
Re: (Score:3)
Actually what you said isn't quite true. Alibaba, along with most top Internet companies in China, are technically foreign companies. The holding companies are registered in Cayman Island and Bermuda; the operating subsidiaries are Chinese companies. These companies all have foreign investors including Silicon Valley venture capital. Alibaba, for example, is still 40% owned by Yahoo. Softbank also owns a big trunk.
The Chinese government's intend is to protect the market from foreign companies which have had
Re: (Score:2)
That's strategy, not irony.
Re: (Score:2)
Yahoo? Serious? (Score:2)
OK, I like flickr.
And I guess some people still use yahoo groups. old people
looks like half the services they used to provide are defunct [wikipedia.org]
I was robbed on Alibaba (Score:1)
Me too! Alibaba is horrible to use (Score:2)
Alibaba, and a number of other sites like them, are horrible to do business with. Yes, it can be done. However even contacting the 'gold member' sellers that are supposed to have factories and company physically checked by alibaba often leads to failures to get the same offers they list on the site. If you can't find someone that will use an escrow, you ARE going to get ripped off. If you want a standard commodity then that's doable. If you want something tech oriented it can be a nightmare.
I recently was
This is such a bad idea (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
There are people who still use Yahoo Mail?
Time to find a new email host... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Hell, these days you don't even want an American in charge of your information (facebook, google, anybody?) Not to imply that Americans are any more or less trustworthy than anybody else, I'll leave that argument aside for now.
I like google, but they DO definitely track my stuff, I'm STILL seeing Tire ads show up 2 weeks after I quit shopping online for tires...
One just cannot trust anybody with one's private information, brings to mind the old adage "Three people can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)