Yahoo cashes out of Alibaba.com investment; sale expected to produce $150 million windfall

Yahoo sees $150M windfall from Alibaba.com sale

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Yahoo has cashed out of its investment in China’s leading e-commerce site, Alibaba.com.

The sale announced Monday is expected to generate a pretax windfall of about $150 million for Sunnyvale-based Yahoo. The Internet company had owned a 1 percent stake in Alibaba.com.

Yahoo invested about $100 million in Alibaba.com as part of an initial public offering completed in November 2007. The shares have soared since then, and Yahoo decided it was time to capitalize on the run-up.

Yahoo still holds a roughly 40 percent stake in Alibaba.com’s owner, the Alibaba Group.

In a statement, Yahoo indicated it intended to hold on to its investment in the Alibaba Group, calling it an “important long-term way to participate in the China market.”