Alibaba interested in buying Yahoo

Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group's head Jack Ma said he is "interested" in buying Yahoo, even as the US company is being approached by private equity firms and others for a potential deal, says a media report.

"Jack Ma, chief executive of Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group Holding, said he is "interested" in buying Yahoo Inc and (the Internet company) was (also) approached by private-equity firms and others about a potential deal," The 'Wall Street Journal' reported.

According to reports, private-equity firms such as Silver Lake Partners are considering bidding for Yahoo.

Ma's comments come nearly a month after the firing of Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz after she was unable to increase market share of the Internet firm.

Bartz's tenure also witnessed worsening of relations between Yahoo and Alibaba after the latter failed in its attempt to buy out its US partner's stake in the company.

Yahoo holds nearly 40% stake in the Chinese Internet group. Alibaba Group's firm Alibaba.Com had cash and bank balances of about $1.6 billion as of June 30.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Ma made the comments to an audience at a 'China 2.0' event at Stanford University on Friday. The paper added it was not clear if over the weekend whether Alibaba had taken formal steps towards purchase of Yahoo.

As per the the publication, Ma's spokesman declined to elaborate on the CEO's remarks, saying "they speak for themselves."

Last month, an internal memo sent by Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock and co-founders David Filo and Jerry Yang to their employees had sparked rumours about a possible sale of the Internet company.

In the memo, Yahoo said that a "strategic review" process was on to bring the company back to robust growth path and multiple parties have "expressed interest in a number of potential options."

The company executives did not specify the "potential options", neither did they name the "multiple parties" which had evinced their interest in the company, but the memo reignited rumours about a possible merger or acquisition of the company.

Bartz was sacked as Yahoo CEO in a bizarre development over a phone call from chairman Bostock.

Soon after Bartz's exit, speculations had begun that Yahoo might be open to possible merger and acquisition deals and there have also been unconfirmed reports that Internet firm AOL is probably interested in a merger deal.

Earlier, there were several failed attempts by technology giant Microsoft to acquire Yahoo.