For the past month, Yahoo (YHOO) has been awash with uncertainty over saber rattling by the IRS that calls the tax-free nature of the spinoff of its Alibaba(BABA) stake into question. Last week, Marissa Mayer downplayed concerns. This week, Yahoo General Counsel Ron Bell tried to do the same.
Yahoo! Inc. is working with tax officials to complete the planned spinoff of its stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. by the end of the fourth quarter, said Ron Bell, general counsel for the company.
“We continue to work with them and be responsive to their questions and inquiries,” Bell said during a shareholders meeting in Santa Clara, California, Wednesday.
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Yahoo is working internally on “a number of different tracks” to get the deal done by the end of the fourth quarter, Bell said.
Obviously, this is a big deal for Yahoo, and for Yahoo shareholders. Hopefully, it will soon become clear whether or not this transaction will occur as proposed.
Disclosure: The author holds shares in Yahoo