Alibaba-Yahoo! talks hit impasse

Alibaba's move to buy out Yahoo!'s stake in the Chinese Internet titan has tripped on the California firm's determination to sidestep taxes, a Dow Jones-owned technology news website reported on Tuesday. AllThingsD.com cited unnamed sources as saying discussions have hit an impasse centered on structuring the deal in a way that would let Yahoo! save more than $4 billion in US taxes on the deal. Yahoo!'s shares in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan were estimated at $17 billion. Chinese online commerce giant Alibaba reportedly planned to borrow $3 billion to buy back the stake Yahoo! owns in the company. Negotiations between the companies on the big-money buyout have stumbled before and could regain their stride, according to AllThingsD. Yahoo!'s brand new chief executive Scott Thompson in January promised urgent action to turn the company around after it reported another quarter and year of falling income and profits. The California firm last week announced a boardroom shakeup to breathe fresh life into the Internet firm that has been struggling to re-invent itself and appease disappointed investors. Chairman Roy Bostock said he would step down from the board along with three other directors -- just weeks after Jerry Yang, who co-founded Yahoo! and had an ill-fated stint as chief executive, resigned from all of his positions. Bostock, in a letter to shareholders, also said Yahoo! was in "active discussions" with its partners in Asia on restructuring its holdings in the Alibaba Group and Yahoo! Japan. Alibaba is 43 percent owned by Yahoo! and Alibaba Group chairman Jack Ma has a longstanding offer to buy all or part of the company.