Rebooted: Struggling Internet company Yahoo Inc. has secured a lifeline after agreeing to sell half of its prized stake in Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba for about $7.1 billion, with most of the cash going to shareholders. The deal, announced Sunday in the United States, will see Alibaba Group buying back half of its 40% stake from Yahoo Inc. for $6.3 billion cash and up to $800 million of Alibaba preferred shares. The announcement caps at least a year of rocky on-and-off talks as Yahoo tried to sell the stake as part of efforts to turnaround its business. Money from the sale will give Yahoo the financial firepower to return cash to disgruntled shareholders, many of whom are still upset after it squandered an opportunity to sell itself to Microsoft Corp. in May 2008 for $33 per share, or $47.5 billion. Yahoo’s stock has sagged since then, trading at $15.42 at the opening bell this morning. Get the full story from The Associated Press here.
Checking in: The Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning travelers to be careful of computer hackers when logging on to the Internet through a hotel connection, The Los Angeles Times reports. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center recently issued a warning to travelers using these systems to look out for bogus access points and pop-up windows used by hackers to steal information and infect computers with viruses. Hackers can create wireless access points, which on laptops resemble the Internet service of a hotel; once a hotel guest signs on to the bogus access point, the hacker can read all the information the hotel guest types into a computer. To prevent such problems, one expert recommends hotel guests plug their laptops directly into the hotel system with a cable or “follow to a T whatever the access instructions are at the hotel.”
Fumbling the kickoff: The CEO of the Nasdaq stock exchange says it is “humbly embarrassed” by its bungling of Facebook’s hugely anticipated debut as a public company on Friday. Robert Greifeld tells news media there’s no indication the delay contributed to the underwhelming performance of Facebook’s stock, which ended at $38.23—23 cents above where it began. Facebook’s stock was expected to start trading at 11 a.m. but didn’t open until 11:32 a.m., and some investors didn’t learn for hours whether their orders went through. Greifeld says late order cancellations caused a glitch, according to reports published Sunday. He says Nasdaq’s board met Saturday and plans to change its IPO auction process. The Securities and Exchange Commission says it is investigating.
Today’s poll question: Do you want the Metro Council on Wednesday to approve a long-stalled, $1.5 million contract to design a new downtown library through a joint venture by WHLC Architecture of Baton Rouge and Boston-based Schwartz/Silver Architects?
