The Wall Street Journal says Alibaba is concerned about the potential acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft, since Yahoo has a large stake in Alibaba. "The plan by Alibaba management flows from concerns about how the Chinese government would view a combination of Microsoft and Yahoo if the software giant's bid for the U.S. Internet company is successful."

Alibaba is the China-based ecommerce company that owns the B2B auction site Alibaba and C2C auction site, Taobao.

The Journal has a full report on the ownership details and implications of a Microsoft acquisition, which bid for Yahoo on February 1st. (http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/01/technology/microsoft_yahoo/). Access to the Wall Street Journal requires a paid subscription, but other outlets have picked up on the news.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120312422017973141.html