On January 27, 2015, Yahoo! Inc. announced that its management has recommended and the Board of Directors has authorized a plan for a tax-free spin-off of the company's remaining holdings in Alibaba Group into a newly formed independent registered investment company ('SpinCo'). The stock of the new company will be distributed pro rata to Yahoo shareholders, resulting in SpinCo becoming a separate publicly traded company.

The Company added that following the spin-off, Yahoo will continue to operate its core business and hold its 35.5% interest in Yahoo Japan. SpinCo will own all of Yahoo's remaining 384 million shares of Alibaba, valued at $40 billion based on the closing price on January 26, 2015, as well as a legacy, ancillary Yahoo business. SpinCo will assume no debt in the transaction, and Yahoo will retain its cash.