Yahoo Paring Alibaba Stake Pressures Mayer to Bolster Ads
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Yahoo! Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer, who has overseen an almost 150 percent stock rally fueled by her company’s stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., is poised to pare that ownership -- a move that threatens to diminish the U.S. Web portal’s investor appeal.
About $21 of Yahoo’s $39 share price comes from the company’s stake of about 24 percent in Alibaba, according to Youssef Squali, an analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald. After Alibaba goes public -- it said on March 16 that it has decided to start the process in the U.S. -- Yahoo has agreed to sell as much as 40 percent of its piece of the e-commerce company, with the remaining shares to be unloaded at its discretion.