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November 23, 2010, 12:16 AM EST
By Susan Li and Mark Lee
(Adds Alibaba spokesman’s comment in sixth paragraph.)
Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Yahoo! Inc. is still working with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. on technologies for services such as e-mail and online advertising, after the Chinese company said it no longer needs to partner with its U.S. investor.
“We still have a lot of technology collaboration,” Rose Tsou, managing director of Yahoo’s Asia Pacific division, said in an interview in Hong Kong today. “We help them with the advertising serving platform for display advertising.”
Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce company, said in September Yahoo’s decision to stop running its own search-engine technology has removed the biggest reason for a partnership between the two. Earlier this year, Yahoo rejected an offer from Alibaba to buy back some of the 39 percent stake the Sunnyvale, California-based company holds in the Chinese firm.
“We are still very happy about our partnership with Alibaba in China, and we see China as a tremendous opportunity for Yahoo,” Tsou said in an interview with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television’s “First Up.”
Yahoo, which plans to integrate its search-engine division with that of Microsoft Corp., has lost its own search technology, and the biggest reason for a partnership between Alibaba and Yahoo doesn’t exist, David Wei, head of the Chinese company’s Alibaba.com Ltd. unit, said Sept. 10. Yahoo became just a “financial investor” at Alibaba, Wei said.
“Nothing has changed since he made those remarks,” Alibaba spokesman John Spelich said by phone today, declining to elaborate.
In 2005, Yahoo became the biggest investor in Alibaba, after paying $1 billion and ownership of its Chinese operations to the Hangzhou, eastern China-based company. Alibaba operates e-commerce businesses including Alibaba.com and Taobao.com, in addition to Yahoo’s China website.
Alibaba last month said users of its search-engine service could access technology by Sohu.com Inc., in addition to Microsoft’s Bing. Yahoo, owner of the most-visited U.S. Web portal, offers the Bing technology under a 10-year agreement with Microsoft.
“We respect Alibaba’s decision when it comes to which partner they will work with on search technology,” Tsou said.
Yahoo expects it will post “strong growth” from its Asia operations as the region adds more Internet users, Tsou said. Third-quarter revenue in the Asia Pacific division rose 26 percent to $321.6 million, Yahoo reported last month.
Tsou, based in Taipei, is a director of Alibaba.com, the Hong Kong-listed unit of Alibaba Group.
--Editors: Anand Krishnamoorthy, Vipin V. Nair
To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Lee in Hong Kong at wlee37@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net
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(Adds Alibaba spokesman’s comment in sixth paragraph.)
Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Yahoo! Inc. is still working with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. on technologies for services such as e-mail and online advertising, after the Chinese company said it no longer needs to partner with its U.S. investor.
“We still have a lot of technology collaboration,” Rose Tsou, managing director of Yahoo’s Asia Pacific division, said in an interview in Hong Kong today. “We help them with the advertising serving platform for display advertising.”
Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce company, said in September Yahoo’s decision to stop running its own search-engine technology has removed the biggest reason for a partnership between the two. Earlier this year, Yahoo rejected an offer from Alibaba to buy back some of the 39 percent stake the Sunnyvale, California-based company holds in the Chinese firm.
“We are still very happy about our partnership with Alibaba in China, and we see China as a tremendous opportunity for Yahoo,” Tsou said in an interview with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television’s “First Up.”
Yahoo, which plans to integrate its search-engine division with that of Microsoft Corp., has lost its own search technology, and the biggest reason for a partnership between Alibaba and Yahoo doesn’t exist, David Wei, head of the Chinese company’s Alibaba.com Ltd. unit, said Sept. 10. Yahoo became just a “financial investor” at Alibaba, Wei said.
“Nothing has changed since he made those remarks,” Alibaba spokesman John Spelich said by phone today, declining to elaborate.
In 2005, Yahoo became the biggest investor in Alibaba, after paying $1 billion and ownership of its Chinese operations to the Hangzhou, eastern China-based company. Alibaba operates e-commerce businesses including Alibaba.com and Taobao.com, in addition to Yahoo’s China website.
Alibaba last month said users of its search-engine service could access technology by Sohu.com Inc., in addition to Microsoft’s Bing. Yahoo, owner of the most-visited U.S. Web portal, offers the Bing technology under a 10-year agreement with Microsoft.
“We respect Alibaba’s decision when it comes to which partner they will work with on search technology,” Tsou said.
Yahoo expects it will post “strong growth” from its Asia operations as the region adds more Internet users, Tsou said. Third-quarter revenue in the Asia Pacific division rose 26 percent to $321.6 million, Yahoo reported last month.
Tsou, based in Taipei, is a director of Alibaba.com, the Hong Kong-listed unit of Alibaba Group.
--Editors: Anand Krishnamoorthy, Vipin V. Nair
To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Lee in Hong Kong at wlee37@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net
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