Yahoo! is benefiting once again from its stake in China’s hottest Internet company, Alibaba Group.
Investors latched onto Yahoo! Monday in anticipation of a huge windfall from Alibaba’s initial public offering of stock, expected as early as this spring. Yahoo!’s stock gained $1.51, or 4 percent, to close at $39.11. It reached a 52-week high earlier this year at $41.72.
Alibaba ignited the excitement about its forthcoming IPO by announcing plans to list its stock on a US exchange.
Yahoo! is expected to sell about half its 24 percent stake in Alibaba as part of an IPO that analysts believe could raise $15 billion.
That means Yahoo! is likely to collect several billion dollars from Alibaba’s IPO.
That money could then be used to pay a special dividend to shareholders or buy back more of its stock.