Softbank close to settling Alipay dispute
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Shanghai Daily, June 21, 2011
Softbank Corp is said to be close to an agreement with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd over the transfer of online payment unit Alipay.
Softbank chairman Masayoshi Son said he expects to reach an agreement over the Alipay dispute soon, without elaborating, as he spoke at an energy forum yesterday in Seoul, South Korea.
Softbank owns about a third of Alibaba.
It was revealed last month that Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma had transferred the group's payment arm Alipay to a new entity under his control. Softbank and Yahoo! Inc, Alibaba's two biggest shareholders, demanded reasonable compensation for the loss of Alipay.
The dispute is rooted in the central bank's new licensing system for non-financial third-party payment service providers.
The People's Bank of China, said applicants must be domestically owned corporations with registration capital of at least 100 million yuan, according to an announcement in June 2010.
Companies with overseas investors were required to apply to the State Council for a license.
Ma sold Alipay to Zhejiang Alibaba E-commerce Co, a private company controlled by himself and Xie Shihuang, another co-founder of Alibaba Group, for 330 million yuan. The transaction was completed last August.
Ma has insisted Alibaba board members were aware of the transaction and had agreed to the transfer.
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