Chinese business website Alibaba.com is scheduled to make
a significant announcement, which could be related to its reported sale
of a 35 percent stake to Yahoo for one billion dollars.
Alibaba has called a media conference for 0600 GMT in Beijing with
sources saying a "significant" announcement would be made.
Neither company has however commented on reports of a tie-up（关系；联系；关联）
.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that Yahoo will pay one billion
dollars and give its China operations to Alibaba in return for a 35
percent stake in the Chinese online retailer.
If confirmed, the deal would be the largest investment by a foreign
company to gain access to China's 100 million net users.
Yahoo's possible purchase comes a week after investors showed their
hunger for Chinese Internet companies, with leading Chinese search
engine Baidu's listing on the NASDAQ exchange sparking a buying frenzy.
Baidu's shares surged 364 percent on the first day of trading -- the
largest one-day rise for a US initial public offering in the past four
years.
Alibaba, based in the eastern China city of Hangzhou, employs some
2,000 staff and operates the online auction site Taobao.com as well as
its flagship（旗舰） trading site Alibaba.com.
Its online payment system, AliPay, is also competing with eBay's
PayPal for dominance in China.
Any deal would give the Silicon Valley firm greater access to China's
e-commerce market, which is expected to reach 77 billion dollars this
year, analysts have said.
"The deal will give Yahoo the reach of Alibaba's five million
Chinese small- and medium-sized businesses, who search for trading deals
on the platform," said Edward Yu, president of Beijing IT research
and consulting firm Analysys International.
"This will help Yahoo to cross sell its business products and
services to the established client base," he said.
A deal may also breathe new life into Epai, the firm's flagging joint
venture with Internet portal operator Sina.
Yahoo first entered the China market in late 2003 by purchasing
keyword search firm 3721 Network Software for 120 million dollars.
The reported deal would be a setback for eBay Inc which was thought
to be interested in partnering with Alibaba, according to Forbes.com.
(Agencies)
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