Yahoo founder Jerry Yang plays a key role in Alibaba's listing
Yahoo co-founder puts deep ties to mainland's largest e-commerce provider and considerable Silicon Valley Rolodex to work before IPO
Executives at messaging start-up TangoMe were brainstorming expansion plans when one of their investors, Jerry Yang, made a suggestion: talk to Alibaba.
Yang, a co-founder of Yahoo, quickly introduced TangoMe to an Alibaba executive. That led to a meeting with Yang, Alibaba vice-chairman Joe Tsai and the young company at its office in Mountain View, California, in late 2013, a source said. By March, Alibaba had agreed to invest US$215 million in TangoMe as part of a round that valued the start-up at more than US$1 billion.
"We have been extremely fortunate to have Jerry Yang as an investor and as an adviser," TangoMe co-founder Eric Setton said. "He is always available to discuss strategy and help with his extensive network."
Yang, the one-time hotshot entrepreneur who co-founded Yahoo while at Stanford University with David Filo in 1994, is now putting his deep ties to China's largest e-commerce provider and his considerable Silicon Valley Rolodex to work as Alibaba prepares to go public next week. The moves underscore Yang's re-emergence after he stepped back from Yahoo in 2012. The comeback is set to be cemented by Alibaba's initial public offering.
"He is a strong, clear, and insightful voice in the boardroom," Lenovo Group chief executive Yang Yuanqing said of Jerry Yang, who joined the Chinese computer maker's board as an observer last year.
The Lenovo chief declined to comment on the new Alibaba board position, adding that Yang "has helped to build meaningful bridges between Lenovo and the Silicon Valley community".
