Much ink was spilled, on these pages and countless others, discussing Yahoo’s plan to spinoff its stakes in Alibaba(BABA) and Yahoo! Japan as an independent company. For much of 2015, the company planned to spin off this stake, together with a Yahoo’s small business unit as Aabaco Holdings. The small business unit was included to maintain the tax… Read More »
Under pressure, once again, from Starboard following the abandonment of its plan to spin off its huge stake in Alibaba(BABA), Yahoo(YHOO) has formed an independent committee of its Board Of Directors to explore strategic alternatives. The Board has formed a Strategic Review Committee of independent directors to lead this effort, with the assistance and support of management. The… Read More »
After fighting to push forward with a spinoff of its Alibaba(BABA) stake as Aabaco Holdings since the IRS first indicated its opposition in May, Yahoo(YHOO) and its embattled CEO Marissa Mayer have finally thrown in the towel. After days of intense speculation, the company announced this morning that the Board, “after careful review and consideration of how to… Read More »
It’s been a rough road for Yahoo(YHOO)’s planned spinoff of its Alibaba(BABA) stake into Aabaco Holdings. After months of sniping with the IRS, culminating with the agency’s refusal to issue a private letter ruling, the company decided to move ahead anyway without the ruling and rely instead on the opinion of counsel. The company backed a Q4 date… Read More »
After months of putting on a brave face in the face of mounting IRS resistance to its proposed spinoff of Alibaba(BABA) shares as Aabaco Holdings, Yahoo(YHOO) was served another setback last week. In a filing late today, the comapny revealed that the IRS had declined to issue a ruling on the taxable status of the transaction. On January 27,… Read More »
Yahoo(YHOO) investors may be learning a costly lesson in the dangers of tax efficiency. Under pressure from investors to maximize the value of its Alibaba(BABA) stake, the company unveiled a plan to spin off the stake, with a small business unit, as Aabaco Holdings. The spinoff was intended to avoid paying $12 billion in taxes. For months, however… Read More »
For the past month, Yahoo (YHOO) has been awash with uncertainty over saber rattling by the IRS that calls the tax-free nature of the spinoff of its Alibaba(BABA) stake into question. Last week, Marissa Mayer downplayed concerns. This week, Yahoo General Counsel Ron Bell tried to do the same. Yahoo! Inc. is working with tax officials to complete… Read More »
After months of sustained pressure, Yahoo (YHOO) finally unveiled plans to spinoff its stake in Alibaba (BABA) last week during its earnings call. A spinoff was chosen for its tax efficiency and in order to accomplish that goal, the company said that a small operating unit would need to be included as part of the transaction. At the time,… Read More »
Ever since Alibaba’s (BABA) wildly successful IPO, investors have been wondering what Yahoo (YHOO) had in mind for its roughly $40 billion minority stake in the company. A sale would generate a lot of cash for the company, but also bring a monstrous $16 billion tax bill with it such as when the company unloaded shares during the… Read More »