SAN FRANCISCO Yahoo Inc could be weeks away from selling 15 percent to 25 percent of Alibaba Group's stock back to China's largest e-commerce company, in a deal designed to eliminate complexities that had scuttled the parties' previous negotiations, a person familiar with the matter said. (10.53 billion pounds).
Yahoo acknowledged that it was in talks with Alibaba, during its first-quarter earnings conference call with analysts last month. During the call, Thompson said the two companies were working on a "simplified" transaction to "monetize" a portion of Yahoo's stake in Alibaba.
To fund the deal, Alibaba would raise capital. The valuation that Alibaba receives in the fund-raising will determine how much Yahoo earns in the transaction, the source said.
In September, Alibaba was valued at $32 billion when Silver Lake and other firms invested in the company, according to media reports at the time. At that valuation, Yahoo could make $4.8 billion to $8 billion by selling 15 to 25 percent of Alibaba.
"Of all the previous ones we've worked on, this one feels like it might actually have a chance of getting done. Or at least it did until a day and a half ago," the person said, referring to the controversy around Thompson's resume.
Details of the talks were first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Friday.
(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Richard Chang)