NEW YORK (AP) — Activist investor Starboard is pushing Yahoo to abandon the planned spinoff of its valuable stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba and sell its Internet search and advertising business instead.
In a letter to the company Thursday, New York-based Starboard said that a better deal would be to sell its search and advertising business because executives haven’t been able to turn the business around. It’s a reverse in thinking by Starboard which previously wanted the company to spin off the Alibaba stake.
Starboard has a nearly 1 percent stake in Yahoo, according to FactSet.
Yahoo Inc., based in Sunnyvale, California, announced plans to sell its $30 billion stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. earlier this year. At the time, Yahoo said the move would help it avoid paying billions in future taxes. But the IRS raised uncertainty about a tax-free spinoff in September, suggesting that Yahoo may have to pay taxes on its gains.
Yahoo did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.
Shares of Yahoo rose 12 cents to $33.10 in morning trading.
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