Is Yahoo!
The company's past is dotted with more logical expansions into social bookmarking and photo-sharing sites. However, when Yahoo! shelled out $1 billion for a 40% stake in China's Alibaba, it knew it wasn't in the driver's seat. With 40% of the shares and only 35% of the voting rights, it has to trust Alibaba's direction.
Alibaba runs a B2B platform for Chinese suppliers to move their wares. To eBay's
Earlier this week, Alibaba expanded its reach by rolling out its new Alisoft division in Shanghai. Looking to make a dent in corporate software with an e-commerce bent, Alibaba is aiming well. Its Rolodex runs thick in new-economy leads, thanks to the success of its namesake site.
The move won't affect Chinese software companies like NetEase
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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a frequent Yahoo! visitor, but he does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.