At the end of February, Alibaba Group, China’s biggest Internet firm, announced it wants to delist the shares of Alibaba.com, its e-commerce company, that are traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

They decided to delist, among other reasons, to feel freer from market expectations and also because the slumping share price had a negative impact on the company. Alibaba Group is offering a premium of HK$13.50 ($1.74) per share, so the deal looks likely to succeed. They need to rethink their strategy and want to enhance the quality and services of their website.

Meanwhile, talks for Alibaba Group to buy back *Yahoo*’s 43 per cent stake in the company, which Yahoo bought for $1 billion in 2005, have reached an impasse. Yahoo has been making constant endeavours to upgrade its struggling position in Asia, including restructuring its current investments by selling the unprofitable units. Alibaba.com’s chief finance officer, Maggie Wu, declared that the privatisation of Alibaba.com and the talks with Yahoo concerning their stake in Alibaba Group are not related.