Editing Jerry Yang (section)

==== Alibaba ====

Yang met [[Alibaba Group|Alibaba]] founder [[Jack Ma]] in 1997 during Yang's first trip to China. Ma, a government-employed tour guide and former English teacher, gave Yang a tour of the [[Great Wall of China]]. The two hit it off and discussed the growth of the Web. Ma created Alibaba several months later. A 1997 photo of Yang and Ma at the Great Wall still hangs on the wall in Alibaba's [[Hangzhou]] office.<ref name=Parmy />

In 2005, under Yang's direction but before he took over as CEO in 2007, Yahoo! purchased a 40% stake in Alibaba for $1 billion plus the assets of Yahoo! China, valued at $700 million.<ref name=Parmy /> In 2012, Yahoo! sold a portion of its stake in Alibaba for $7.6 billion.<ref name=Fortune2014>{{cite news|last1=Helft|first1=Miguel|title=Jerry Yang: The most successful American investor in China?|url=http://fortune.com/2014/09/18/jerry-yang-the-most-successful-american-investor-in-china/|access-date=January 5, 2015|work=Fortune|publisher=Time, Inc.|date=September 18, 2014}}</ref> The company made an additional $9.4 billion in Alibaba's 2014 [[Initial public offering|IPO]].<ref name=Upstart>{{cite news|last1=Novellino|first1=Teresa|title=Inside Jerry Yang's wild bet on Alibaba and Jack Ma|url=http://upstart.bizjournals.com/entrepreneurs/hot-shots/2014/10/01/inside-jerry-yang-s-wild-bet-on-alibaba-jack-ma.html?page=all|access-date=January 5, 2015|work=Upstart Business Journal|publisher=American City Business Journals.|date=October 1, 2014}}</ref> Eric Jackson, the founder of hedge fund Ironfire Capital, called Yahoo!'s investment in Alibaba "the best investment an American company has ever made in China," and stated, "Jerry deserves enormous credit for that."<ref name=Fortune2014 />