MarketWatch: Yahoo’s Asian Assets Remain, But How To Extract Value Is The Issue

Therese Poletti, MarketWatch’s column writer, says that even though Carol Bartz left the company, Yahoo still has value in its Asian assets. People are willing to look past Bartz’s departure and invest or even acquire this company, just because of the support from its Asian assets.

According to Poletti, investors are focusing on Yahoo’s 40% stake of Alibaba and 35% of Yahoo Japan. Investors are hoping for an eventual IPO of Taobao under Alibaba, which would generate great profits for Yahoo. This offsets investors’ lack of confidence in Yahoo’s board and core business. Poletti said Bartz tried very hard to prevent Alibaba from buying back the stake because of the windfall from a potential IPO.

Poletti said exactly how to extract the value from Yahoo’s Asian assets is still an issue for the company. The board has been trying to find a tax efficient way to divest or sell its Yahoo Japan assets since last year.

Poletti pointed to Christopher Versace of Think 20/20, who does not think Yahoo can find a good buyer now. Versace thinks that Yahoo’s issue of not being an asset that call fill another company’s strategic hole had worsened over the past 30 months.

Poletti believes investors are keen on knowing what happens to Yahoo’s Asian assets in the near future.