alibaba

What's going to happen to Yahoo? Your scorecard to the fun

Yahoo as we know it may be coming to an end.

Years of mismanagement and strategic drift have taken their toll, and the buzzards are circling. Odds now seem good that sometime within the next few weeks or months, Yahoo will have a new CEO, a new owner or one or more new private investors--with big changes likely to follow whatever happens.

But this target is moving rapidly, so it's understandable if you're having trouble keeping up with the latest news. As Yahoo enters open season, here's a guide to help those of you playing at home … Read more

Alibaba said to be prepping bid for all of Yahoo

Yahoo's Chinese Internet partner Alibaba--in which Yahoo still owns a 40 percent stake--is preparing a bid to buy all of the Web giant, according to Bloomberg.

The news service reported that Alibaba and Softbank are in "advanced talks" with the Blackstone Group and Bain Capital to put together a bid for all of Yahoo. Bloomberg cited "three people with knowledge of the matter" as sources.

While a handful of bidders have stepped forward to buy minority piece of Yahoo, which is apparently the company's preference, Alibaba appears to be aiming to acquire all of … Read more

Help wanted: Alibaba seeking partners to acquire Yahoo

Alibaba Group and Softbank are trying to woo investors to help them acquire Yahoo outright, a new report claims.

Citing anonymous sources, Bloomberg reported today that the companies are looking for investment firms that haven't signed the Yahoo nondisclosure agreement. Terms of the nondisclosure agreement ban companies that have signed it from talking with other firms about entering into strategic partnerships to acquire the online giant.

However, as Bloomberg reported, according to its sources, Yahoo "prefers to sell a smaller stake, rather than cede complete control," so Alibaba and Softbank's efforts might come up empty.

Talk … Read more

Yahoo for sale? Don't ask interim CEO Tim Morse

On Yahoo's third-quarter earnings call this afternoon, Tim Morse took time to answer just about every question, except the ones that analysts most wanted to hear: When will Yahoo's board decide what to do with the company?

Despite Yahoo's better-than-expected results, questions about its future are the most pressing ones. The company, which fired its chief executive Carol Bartz last month, has increasingly been rumored to be considering takeover offers. A raft of companies have lined up to kick the tires, according to various reports, including Silver Lake Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Chinese Internet company Alibaba.… Read more

Alibaba looks to break away from Yahoo, report says

China-based e-commerce company Alibaba Group could be planning to buy back Yahoo's stake in its operation, a new report claims.

According to Bloomberg, which cited "people familiar with the matter," Alibaba is in talks with Singapore's Temasek Holdings, a state-owned investment firm, to raise the cash to buy back Yahoo's 40 percent stake. Exactly how much Alibaba will need to raise to get Yahoo to agree to the deal is unknown. Citing a Temasek valuation, Bloomberg said Yahoo's stake, which it acquired in 2005, could be worth as much as $13 billion.

Alibaba has … Read more

Silver Lake, DST, Alibaba mulling joint Yahoo bid, report says

Investment firms Silver Lake and Digital Sky Technologies (DST), along with Alibaba Group, are planning to partner on an acquisition bid for Yahoo, Bloomberg is reporting, citing anonymous sources.

According to Bloomberg's sources, the three firms have already contacted Yahoo, saying that a deal could be coming over, but so far, the bid has not been completed, and still might not happen.

Silver Lake has a long history of investing in troubled companies. In 2009, for example, the company acquired Skype from eBay for about $2 billion. Earlier this year, it sold off Skype to Microsoft for $8.5 billion. … Read more

Could Yahoo be acquired by Alibaba?

We now know Yahoo has at least one more suitor, the Chinese Internet company Alibaba.

Alibaba CEO Jack Ma told an audience at Stanford University on Friday that he's interested in acquiring Yahoo, according to published reports. Ma also said he's been approached by several private equity firms and others about his interest.

Alibaba adds to a growing list of parties that may be interested in Yahoo, including the private equity firm Silverlake Partners, the venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz, and even Microsoft, which already tried and failed to acquire Yahoo. Yahoo officials have been careful to note they … Read more

Alibaba launching English mobile OS this month, report says

China-based Alibaba Group is planning to launch an English version of its Aliyun mobile operating system, Reuters reports.

The English version of Aliyun will be available later this month, according to the news service, which was on-hand during an Alibaba press conference earlier today in Hangzhou, China. The company also told reporters that it's currently in negotiations with hardware vendors to bundle its operating system with their devices.

Alibaba launched its mobile operating system in China in July. The platform, which was developed by the company's Alibaba Cloud Computing group, relies heavily upon the cloud, offering cloud-based e-mail, … Read more

iPhone 5 cases evidence of thinner new phone?

iPhone 5 cases flooding the Chinese market reportedly reveal a thin design for Apple's new Phone, as thin as an iPod Touch.

Pointing to products being sold by online vendor Alibaba and other Chinese retailers, tech enthusiast site M.I.C. Gadget claims that the new cases are everywhere and that "only an iPhone that is as thin as an iPod touch could fit in these cases perfectly."

Beyond offering the thinner design, the new cases also point to the new iPhone being wider and longer, the mute switch moved to the other side, and the overall form factor tapered with rounded edges more similar to that of the iPod Touch.

Though this sounds like yet another iPhone rumor to be taken with a heaping grain of salt, The Next Web says that the cases have a similar design but come from different manufacturers and sources, so they could be based on "accurate patterns" that have already been sent to iPhone 5 accessory makers.

Similar case designs leaked in July uncovered a thinner design for the new iPhone. And in June, drawings based on reports at This is My Next showed similar "big" changes.… Read more

Amazon, eBay, Apple among top retail sites visited

Amazon was the most visited retail site in June, according to new data out today from Comscore.

Compared with all other online retailers, Amazon.com grabbed more than 282 million visitors in June, reaching 20.4 percent of the entire Internet population around the world.

Trailing in second place was eBay.com with 223.5 million visitors, or 16.2 percent of the global audience. Across the world, China's Alibaba Corporation (which includes Taobao, Alibaba.com and Alipay) saw 156.8 million people, or 11.3 percent of all Internet users, visit its sites.

In fourth place in June … Read more