# Prof. Richard Sylla on Yahoo's stake in Alibaba

1 Faculty News September 18, 2014>

Except from [Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-18/yahoo-seen-relying-on-alibaba-even-as-ipo-sales-begin.html) -- "This kind of tie-up between larger companies isn’t typical for U.S. investors, said [Richard Sylla](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/richard-sylla), a professor of economics and financial history at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and mutual funds tend to be more ideal investment vehicles, he said. 'It’s a bit more unusual in the U.S. for a company like Yahoo to have a big stock position in another firm without sort of taking it over,' he said. 'Usually, one firm buys another and they merge or something like that -- but in this particular case Yahoo was acting a little bit more like a partner or a venture capital firm.'"

[Read more](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-18/yahoo-seen-relying-on-alibaba-even-as-ipo-sales-begin.html)