Reactions/Follow Up on Yahoo-Alibaba Deal

The Yahoo-Alibaba deal has evoked a lot of reaction, both from analysts and the media, and some additional deal points:

Xinhua: Ma Yun, CEO of Alibaba denied the popular view that Alibaba made the deal with Yahoo in order to get prepared for going public.

TheDeal: The deal values Alibaba at $2.6 billion, a 38 times last year’s sales, suggesting that Yahoo! is taking a big risk. But the American company hopes the market’s expected fast growth will justify its investment.

Bill Bishop: “Yahoo is now the most entrenched US media company in China. Forget Viacom, Disney, Time Warner and News Corp and their small deals for programming sales and the like…What remains to be seen is whether the price they just paid was worth it, or whether they are just another Western company that got stuck with a China premium by a very savvy local operator.”

RedHerring: Porter Erisman, a VP for marketing at Alibaba called the partnership “probably the knock-out blow for eBay in China,” adding “this is really going to make it tough for eBay to not just win in China, but in Asia.”

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