Not for the first time, Alibaba(BABA) graces our pages with news of a cancelled spinoff. Back in 2015, it was Yahoo’s planned spinoff of Aabaco Holdings that was cancelled, due, in large part, to IRS opposition to the transaction being tax free. Aabaco would have been a vehicle to take Yahoo’s valuable Alibaba stake and move it into… Read More »
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 »
Yahoo (YHOO) had a tough year in 2015. The core business continued declining, key employees fled and its plans to deliver shareholder value by spinning off its Alibaba (BABA) stake into a standalone company was effectively derailed by the IRS. Unfortunately for the company and its beleaguered CEO Marissa Meyer, the start of 2016 isn’t looking much better… 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 »
A few short hits for the Friday before Memorial Day – A very minor footnote to the abandoned Comcast (CMCSA)/Time Warner Cable (TWC) megadeal is the cancellation of the GreatLand Connections spinoff. The spin would have shed millions of customers in select markets and was part of the two companies’ strategy to win regulatory approval. I think they… Read More »
In the last minute or so of trading today, Yahoo (YHOO) dropped 7.5% on huge volume. At the same time Alibaba (BABA) spiked. Readers will recall that Yahoo is spinning off its stake in Alibaba together with its small business unit. The move is expected to save billions of dollars in taxes. Though scant information is available, Twitter… 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 »