By ZDNet France Staff, 8 November 2005 11:25
NEWS
Yahoo! has taken back total control of several of its local subsidiaries. The company has signed a deal with Japanese investment group Softbank, one of its former shareholders, for the repurchase of its stake in Yahoo! Europe and Yahoo! Korea.
Until now, Softbank held 30 per cent of Yahoo!'s French, German and UK sites and 33 per cent of its Korean site. Yahoo! will spend $500m to regain control of its European and Korean arms, with the transaction due to be concluded between now and the end of the fourth quarter of this year.
Terry Semel, Yahoo!'s CEO, said in a statement: "By buying out Softbank... our strategic flexibility to take advantage of international growth opportunities in Korea and Europe will be enhanced, and this new structure should lead to a more efficient, longer-term operating and tax model."
Softbank still holds an interest in Yahoo! Japan and is Yahoo!'s partner in the Chinese ecommerce site Alibaba, which the company invested in this summer.
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