The head of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said on May 14 that the firm's move to transfer ownership of its online payment unit was "legal and 100 percent transparent", rejecting protests by US-based Yahoo!
The California Internet company filed paperwork on May 10 notifying the US Securities and Exchange Commission that ownership of Alibaba's Alipay unit had been shifted to a Chinese company owned mostly by chief executive Jack Ma.
In the filing, Yahoo! said the transfer was done without the knowledge or approval of Alibaba's board of directors or shareholders. Yahoo! owns a 43 percent stake in Alibaba and an estimated 40 percent share of Alipay. Yahoo! said the move was made in August although it and another major Alibaba stakeholder, Japan's Softbank, were only informed in March.
On May 14, Ma rebutted the claims and said that the controversial transfer was done with key investors' knowledge.
"The board and shareholders including Yahoo! and Softbank Corp are fully aware of the ownership transfer of Alipay," he was quoted as saying by Dow Jones Newswires.
His comments come after the firm issued a statement on May 13, saying the transfer was done to "comply with Chinese law governing payment companies in order to secure a license to continue operating Alipay."
"The actions taken by Alibaba Group management to comply with the licensing regulations and to ensure continuation of operations are in the best interests of the company and its shareholders," the statement said.