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Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) may set a deal to sell part of its Asia assets in a deal worth $18 billion. The transaction would involve a drop in its ownership of Alibaba from nearly 50% to 15%. Yahoo! may do the same with Softbank, with which it owns Yahoo! Japan.
So far, Wall St. knows enough about the media reports of the deals that it has driven Yahoo!’s stock 6% higher in a day.
But, many other attempts by the Yahoo! board to increase value have failed. The company brought in Silicon Valley Carl Bartz only to fire her earlier this year. The company has also done a joint venture with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) on search which has yielded only modest success
According to Reuters
In the deal under contemplation, Yahoo would effectively transfer most of its 40 percent slice of Alibaba back to the Chinese company and all of its stake in Yahoo Japan to Softbank Corp, sources said.
Alibaba and Yahoo Japan would each create separate legal entities where they would put cash and operating assets, and then trade those with Yahoo, making the deal tax-free, the sources said.
At the end of the contemplated transaction Yahoo would retain a 15 percent stake in Alibaba, the sources said.