Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz sought on Friday to ease tensions with Alibaba Group (阿里巴巴), the Chinese e-commerce giant in which the California Internet company holds a 39 percent stake.
“Our investment as a shareholder in Alibaba Group is strategic and a great one for our company and our shareholders,” Bartz said in a statement a day after Alibaba said its bid to buy back part of Yahoo’s stake had been rejected.
“As an investor, Yahoo has no operational control in the group and we’re very supportive of the operational direction Jack Ma (馬雲) and his team are taking the group,” Bartz said, calling Ma “one of the most impressive entrepreneurs of our time.”
“We are not going to comment on any private discussions we may or may not have with our strategic partners,” Bartz said. “As with all matters like this, any decisions regarding this investment would be driven by what will create the most value for our shareholders.”
John Spelich, a spokesman for the Hong Kong-listed unit Alibaba.com, said on Thursday that Yahoo had rejected Alibaba’s partial sale offer and Yahoo had “countered with a very different proposal which we found unjustifiable and we terminated the discussions.”
Alibaba Group sold the 39 percent stake to Yahoo! in 2005 in exchange for control of Yahoo’s China operation and US$1 billion.
The Alibaba Group owns China’s largest online consumer e-commerce site, Taobao, (淘寶) as well as wholesale platform Alibaba.com.
In January, Alibaba condemned Yahoo as “reckless” for supporting Google in a public spat with Beijing over censorship and cyber-attacks that Google said originated from China.
David Wei (衛哲), chief executive of Alibaba.com, told reporters last week that the company should “re-evaluate” its ties with Yahoo after reports Yahoo Hong Kong was considering taking online advertising from companies in China, which would put the two firms in direct competition.
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
UNCERTAINTIES: The world’s biggest chip packager and tester is closely monitoring the US’ tariff policy before making any capacity adjustments, a company official said ASE Technology Holding Inc (日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, yesterday said it is cautiously evaluating new advanced packaging capacity expansion in the US in response to customers’ requests amid uncertainties about the US’ tariff policy. Compared with its semiconductor peers, ASE has been relatively prudent about building new capacity in the US. However, the company is adjusting its global manufacturing footprint expansion after US President Donald Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs in April, and new import duties targeting semiconductors and other items that are vital to national security. ASE subsidiary Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) is participating in Nvidia
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