[Techtaffy Newsdesk]

Alibaba Group Holding Limited and Alibaba.com Limited have jointly announced that the proposal for the privatization of Alibaba.com has been approved by a sufficient majority of the independent shareholders of Alibaba.com. Approximately 95 percent of the shares held by independent shareholders voting in person or by proxy were voted in favor of the privatization and a majority of the shareholders voting in person or by proxy on a headcount basis also voted in favor of the privatization. Subject to the Scheme becoming effective, Alibaba.com’s scheme shareholders will receive a cancellation price of HK$13.50 per share in cash.

Proceeding to the next step of the privatization, Alibaba.com will seek the sanction of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands at the petition hearing on June 15, 2012. Assuming it is approved by the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, it is expected that the Scheme will become effective on June 19, 2012 (Cayman Islands time), whereupon Alibaba.com will become a private wholly-owned subsidiary of Alibaba Group, and the listing of the shares in Alibaba.com on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will be withdrawn on June 20, 2012.