Business

Investors hope Alibaba will acquire Yahoo!

Forget about Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer and her plans to turn around the ailing Internet company.

Thanks to an intriguing report making the rounds of Wall Street, investors are hoping that Alibaba’s Jack Ma — who is planning to launch the biggest tech IPO in history this fall — or another Asian savior will swoop in with an offer to buy Yahoo!

Shares of the Sunnyvale, Calif., tech company rose for a second day, gaining more than 4 percent to $36.17 Thursday, on a report outlining why either Alibaba or Japan’s Softbank might be wise to buy Yahoo!

The report released late Wednesday by Eric Jackson, a Yahoo! shareholder, makes the case that Alibaba and Softbank could save billions if they acquire Yahoo! as a tax-free way of reclaiming shares in their own companies.

If that sounds like financial mumbo jumbo, consider that Jackson is not alone. The founder of Ironfire Capital admits he got the idea from a much larger Yahoo! investor, who is also gearing up to make the case to Wall Street.

Jackson declined to disclose the investor to The Post, saying only that it was a top 20 shareholder known to be “pretty aggressive.”

Yahoo!’s top shareholders include hedge fund giants Janus Capital, John Thaler’s JAT Capital and DE Shaw.

“I can’t say who it is because they asked me not to,” Jackson told The Post, adding that this person is expected to go public next week.

A spokeswoman for Alibaba declined to comment. Softbank couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

Yahoo! owns a 24 percent stake in Alibaba, which is slated to go public later this year. It also owns a 35 percent stake in Yahoo! Japan, while Softbank holds a 43 percent stake.

Yahoo! is valued at $36 billion, but excluding its Alibaba and Yahoo! Japan stakes — worth $26 billion and $9 billion respectively — the company is almost worthless. If Alibaba soars in the IPO, it could further dilute the value of Yahoo’s core business.

Alibaba, however, could pick up Yahoo!’s business on the cheap. With the deal, Alibaba would buy 383 million of its own shares without the same tax hit or costs incurred if it raised money to buy the shares outright, according to Jackson’s report.

For Alibaba, the cost savings could be as much as $20 billion, Jackson said. Softbank, meanwhile, could save $3 billion. Plus, Softbank owns a 37 percent stake in Alibaba, adding incentive for it to buy Yahoo! as a way to swap stakes, he said.

“People are starting to contemplate the tax efficiencies of Alibaba or Softbank acquiring Yahoo!,” said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis.

Of course, such a deal would crimp Mayer’s continued shopping spree, which would be fueled by the windfall profits Yahoo! will reap from selling down part of its stake in Alibaba’s upcoming IPO.

Last week the web portal reported that revenue minus traffic acquisition costs for the second quarter fell 3 percent from last year. Analysts had been expecting a gain of 8 percent.

“We are not satisfied with our results this past quarter,” Mayer said, adding that transforming Yahoo! “will take multiple years.”