Yahoo! Says Alibaba Transferred Alipay Without Board Approval

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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. spun off its Alipay online-payment business to a different company without the knowledge or consent of its board or shareholders, Yahoo! Inc. said.

Yahoo and Softbank Corp., owners of stakes in Alibaba Group, didn’t learn until March 31 of the transfer, which happened in August, Yahoo said in a statement yesterday. Alibaba shifted ownership of Alipay to a company mostly owned by Jack Ma, chief executive officer of Alibaba Group, to comply with Chinese restrictions on foreign ownership of payment services, Yahoo said in a May 11 regulatory filing.