Alibaba buys back shares from Yahoo

China’s Alibaba Group (1688.HKG) said it paid Yahoo (YHOO.NASDAQ) about US$7.6 billion for half the stake Yahoo owned in the company, Reuters reported. As it moves closer to an initial public offering, Aibaba said it paid about US$6.3 billion in cash and US$800 in preferred shares in the group. Yahoo now owns about 23% of the Chinese e-commerce giant, down from 40%. Alibaba CEO Jack Ma described the purchase as a “new chapter in our relationship with Yahoo.” The Chinese company reached an agreement in May to buy back its shares, and took its business-to-business e-commerce platform, Alibaba.com, private in June for US$3 billion. Yahoo bought Alibaba stakes in 2005 for US$1 billion and the sale of Yahoo China.