Alibaba says no room for Yahoo’s CEO on its board

Alibaba, the $567 million Chinese e-commerce firm in which Yahoo holds a 39-per cent stake, today said that it has no room for the US search engine company's CEO Carol Bartz on the board of Alibaba.

The snub from the Chinese e-commerce firm came a day after Yahoo refused to sell its 39-per cent stake in the Hong Kong-listed Alibaba.com back to the company and Bartz's suggested that it would be better if she joined the board of Alibaba.

Former Autodesk executive chairman Carol Bartz, who was appointed the new Yahoo CEO in January 2009 after founder Jerry Yang stepped down under shareholder pressure, had said while refusing to sell the company's stake in Alibaba that Yahoo would exit the Chinese e-commerce firm after its payment and online shopping subsidiaries Alipay.com and Taobao.com go public.

Under an agreement signed with Alibaba when Yahoo bought the stake in Alibaba.com in 2005, the California-based Yahoo is entitled to get a second seat on the board of Alibaba.

Wang Shuai, chief marketing officer of Taobao.com said that Taobao has no intention of going public and it would be better if Bartz focuses on improving Yahoo's own business first.

Yahoo acquired its 39-per cent stake in Alibaba in 2005 for $1.1 billion, which is worth $11 billion, according to Bloomberg, which quoted estimates by Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Marianne Wolk.

Bartz told Reuters recently that Alibaba ''constantly'' approaches Yahoo about buying back its stake and Yahoo, even under its previous CEO Jerry Wang has consistently refused to sell.

In an effort to end the tit-for-tat replies Yahoo said last week that it would not ''comment on any private discussions we may or may not have with our strategic partners.''