Yahoo makes big-money deal in China

It is being hailed as the biggest ever investment by a foreign firm in China’s technology market. US internet giant Yahoo has bought a 40 percent stake in Alibaba.com, the Chinese Internet auctioneer. It didn’t come cheap at nearly 807 million euros but Yahoo’s bosses, including chief operating officer Daniel Rosensweig, are delighted.

“It is very similar to the way Yahoo has been successful in Japan by finding a great local partner and a great management team with great assets and combining Yahoo’s brand, its assets and its global leading technologoy to be able to compete and to be successful in what we believe will the world’s largest internet market in just five years,” he said. Founded in 1999, Alibaba runs both Chinese and English language auction sites. With Internet users expected to hit 120 million by the end of the year, China is currently the world’s second-biggest Internet market after the United States. Under the much-anticipated deal, Yahoo will fold its entire Chinese search and other operations into Alibaba.

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