alibaba

Yahoo owns 40 percent of the Alibaba Group, and some onlookers feel that tie is the only thing keeping Yahoo afloat in Asia.  But as rumors circulate that Alibaba will undergo an IPO, floating could turn into flying.

The owner of Yahoo China spent three-fourths of the $1 billion it received from Yahoo last summer on research & development and other projects.

Now that it has absorbed Yahoo China, Jack Ma's Alibaba wants to be the top search site in China and render the whole Google versus Microsoft fight over China moot.