Technology

Yahoo Files Alibaba Spin-Off Plan

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courtesy of Yahoo!
In a filing delivered Friday to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) said it will distribute all shares of common stock in a new company called Aabaco Holdings to Yahoo shareholders. Aabaco is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Yahoo, and its holdings will be Yahoo’s remaining 384 million ordinary shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) and 100% ownership in Aabaco Small Business, a new company that will acquire the assets and assume the liabilities of Yahoo’s current Yahoo Small Business group.

At Friday’s closing price of Alibaba stock, the new company starts off with assets worth about $32 billion. At Yahoo’s closing price on Friday, the company’s market cap was $37.24 billion.

Friday’s filing does not specify a date for the spin-off.

Yahoo itself will retain no stake in Aabaco following the spin-off, but directors, officers and employees of Yahoo who own shares of Yahoo common stock will receive Aabaco shares in the same ratio as other of the company’s shareholders.

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Following the spin-off, Aabaco will be an independent, publicly traded, non-diversified closed-end fund and will not be treated as a regulated investment company under the U.S. tax code. The fund will be treated as a regular or C corporation for federal tax purposes and will have to pay corporate income tax to the extent that it recognizes taxable income.

Yahoo said that the Alibaba shares will comprise more than 95% of Aabaco’s value at the completion of the spin-off and that at least 80% of total assets will be invested in Alibaba shares going forward.

When Yahoo first announced this plan in late January, Alibaba stock traded near $103 per American depositary share (one ADS is equal to one share of common stock). The stock closed Friday at $83.36, down nearly 20%.

 

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