Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group's $2.5 billion bid to take its Hong Kong-listed unit private was cleared Friday by minority shareholders, easing the way for CEO Jack Ma to gain more control over his company's destiny. The approval comes less than a week after Alibaba Group said it was buying back roughly half of struggling US Internet company Yahoo's stake for $7.1 billion, as the Chinese company starts to extricate itself from a relationship that has grown strained over the years. About 95 per cent of Alibaba.com minority shareholders voted at a special meeting to approve Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s offer to buy back the 27 percent of Alibaba.com Ltd. that it doesn't own for 13.50 Hong Kong dollars a share. That's the same price at which the company went public in 2007. The offer could cost up to HK$19.6 billion ($2.5 billion). Alibaba.com, a business-to-business website, has said that going private will allow it to restructure and make long-term strategic decisions as growth slows after years of rapid expansion without pressure from shareholders worried about the depressed stock price. The company plans to improve the quality of its site to attract more manufacturers, wholesalers and trading companies paying to use it. The number of users has started dropping and Alibaba says reversing that decline could hurt financial results. Hangzhou, China-based Alibaba Group also operates Taobao.com, China's version of eBay, and TMall, which brand owners can use to sell directly to consumers. Alibaba also runs a search engine for shoppers and an online payment service.
GMT 09:14 2017 Wednesday ,18 October
Is facial recognition the stuff of sci-fi? Not in ChinaGMT 08:31 2017 Saturday ,23 September
Vision 2030 will take Saudi Arabia into the futureGMT 20:37 2017 Thursday ,07 September
NASA captures images of strong solar flaresGMT 20:39 2017 Wednesday ,30 August
United Technologies near deal to buy Rockwell Collins: reportGMT 13:41 2017 Saturday ,19 August
Eclipse-chasers trot the globe, addicted to Moon's shadowGMT 17:47 2017 Wednesday ,16 August
NASA: let's say something to Voyager 1 on 40th anniversary of launchGMT 16:41 2017 Friday ,11 August
Asteroid to shave past Earth on Oct 12: ESAGMT 21:32 2017 Tuesday ,18 July
Japanese engineers develop headset-less VR systemMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor