Who gave up on Yahoo? Maybe they moved away too soon.
Yahoo “is making amends for years of blundering with one smart move: an early investment in Alibaba Group that has turned into a multibillion-dollar boon,” reports State Journal.
It’s hard to find fault with that assessment.
According to AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke, the latest windfall came with Alibaba’s record-setting IPO completed September 18, in which the Chinese e-commerce giant raised $25 billion. (Alibaba’s shares began trading the next day on the New York Stock Exchange).
“Yahoo is in line to make $8.3 billion to $9.5 billion from the initial public offering, depending on whether investment bankers exercise their right within the next month to buy additional stock in the deal,” notes Liedtke.
For Yahoo, it’s kind of like winning the lottery.
“Yahoo now must decide what to do with the money that will pour in from Alibaba’s IPO,” Liedtke says. “Mayer has promised that at least half the amount, after taxes, will be returned to shareholders through dividends or, more likely, buying back stock. That leaves open the possibility that Yahoo might use the rest of the money from the Alibaba IPO to help finance an acquisition of another Internet company such as AOL Inc. or a hot startup such as social media company Pinterest in its latest attempt to revive its business.”
