Alibaba begins buying back Yahoo! stake in company

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on Tuesday announced that it has bought back billions of dollars worth of stock from Yahoo! in a step toward independence from the US Internet pioneer. Alibaba Group Holding Limited said it has completed an initial repurchase of shares from Yahoo! and "restructured its relationship with the Silicon Valley company" in transactions valued at approximately $7.6 billion (US). In May, the companies revealed that more than a year of negotiations had resulted in a deal for Yahoo! to sell back its stake in Alibaba. The transaction will be carried out in stages, with the first step calling for a repurchase by Alibaba of up to one-half of Yahoo!'s stake, or approximately 20 percent of Alibaba's total shares. Yahoo! would be paid in a combination of cash and newly-issued Alibaba preferred stock, the firms said.