Alibaba-Led Group Said to Prepare Yahoo Bid (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-30/alibaba-led-group-said-to-prepare-bid-for-yahoo-web-portal-s-shares-jump.html)
Would a combined Chinese/Japanese buyout of Yahoo make it past regulators in the US?
QuoteWould a combined Chinese/Japanese buyout of Yahoo make it past regulators in the US?
Bill, do you mean analogous to the iconic quality of Rockefeller Center... or is Yahoo a more strategic asset?
I think people in the US have got over their problems with the Japanese owning parts of their country. Not sure if that extends to Chinese yet.
One argument I had read was discussing the problems with the Chinese government having access to all of those Yahoo Mail accounts. I could see some people putting up a fuss about that.
I think the sticking point would be the email accounts and the certainty of them being accessed by the Chinese gov't. The rest of Yahoo might make people uncomfortable but it would be harder to object too a company from China owning it.
Personally, I would close down my Yahoo mail accounts.
Yahoo's usage would fall dramatically if it became owned by a company in China. The only thing I could think of that would make it worth them buying Y is if they take the brand to China and exploit it there.
The Yahoo brand never fared well in China. The only thing that kept them barely afloat there was the PR of their Chinese/American founder. If it weren't for the Chinese acceptance of him it's doubtful Yahoo would still have any presence in China today. Global internet brands have generally not done well in China.