New York, February 15 (FinanceEnquiry.com) - Reliable sources have revealed that talks between US Internet giant, Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), and China’s Alibaba Group have broken down, endangering their plans for a $17 billion tax-free asset swap. The stumbling block in the negotiations took place on the same day when Daniel Lobb of hedge fund, ThirdPoint, endeavored to put his own bevy of directors on the board of Yahoo, laying bare the internal strife of the one-time Web pioneer.  

 

Lobb was planning to nominate former NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, along with himself and two others to Yahoo’s board, as per a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. He also opposed the previous efforts of Yahoo to enter into an investment deal with private equity. With the breaking down of the negotiations between Yahoo and Alibaba, the struggles of the one-time Internet leader to improve its business and appease unhappy investors will suffer another setback.

 

Yahoo, whose revenue dropped by more than 20 percent last year, had appointed former PayPal President, Scott Thompson, as CEO in January, five months after it had sacked Carol Bartz. Yahoo Japan shares plunged about 8.1 percent in Tokyo on Wednesday and its last trading was at 25,020 yen, down 3.9 percent. Since last Thursday, Alibaba.com shares have been suspended in Hong Kong.