Alibaba was pre-ipo at the time and did not have a market valuation. The most effective way to estimate a market value for Alibaba at this time is the 2008 MSFT offer itself.

MSFT didn't offer $44B for Yahoo's internet business. The offer was in large part for the Alibaba stake.

Regardless, MSFT priced it all at around $44B, which is less than it eventually was valued at.

There were still private transactions that valued Alibaba far lower that you claim. What justification do you have for your claim?

What was the valuation of the private transactions and when were they?

I amend my statement a little: They actually IPOed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in late 2007 before delisting in 2012. They IPOed at $10bn. They traded as high as $25bn the first day. But I have no other data.

https://www.reuters.com/article/tech-alibabacom-ipo-dc/aliba...

Alibaba was delaying going public because they wanted to get back the 40% they had sold to Yahoo. Their expected market cap was $200B, so the 40% that Yahoo owned would eventually be worth $80B. Hence MSFT offered $44B, which was a lowball offer.

Eventually Marissa made amends with Jack Ma and Yahoo was allowed to keep 24% of their stake, and then BABA went public. But before Marissa came on board, there was Carol Bartz who was a total fuck up of the highest order; a potty-mouthed prick if there was one. She pissed Jack off when they first met, and Jack took Alipay from out of under her. I'm surprised more people don't blame Bartz for the screwups at Yahoo.