Alibaba, the China, Hangzhou-based e-commerce/e-auction company, is allegedly trying to be heard by Yahoo's board on the subject of Microsoft's proposal to acquire Yahoo. Sources quoted by Reuters claim that according to the original agreement with Yahoo, which owns 39 percent of Alibaba, the Chinese company is in a very strong position to influence how shares would be transferred to any new owner.

Yahoo's stake in Alibaba was bought in 2005 for $1billion plus Yahoo!'s Chinese assets, which amounted to another $700 million. Things are apparently complicated because Japanese telecommunications company, Softbank, owns 30 percent of Alibaba and 3.9 percent of Yahoo!, and, at the same time, its president, Masayoshi Son, is reportedly quite friendly with Bill Gates, according to Forbes.

There is apparently also some concern regarding the fact Beijing authorities will not like than such an important Chinese firm could come under the control of Microsoft Corp. Foreign control of large companies in key or strategic industries is a politically sensitive issue for Beijing, Reuters notes.

"Yahoo's stronger position in Asia is one of the rationales for Microsoft's takeover bid," said Ivan Li, an analyst at Kim Eng Securities (HK) Ltd. in Hong Kong, quoted by Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, the world's largest media conglomerate company by market capitalization, is apparently discussing with Yahoo about a deal between the two companies that would hold off Microsoft’s approach. The New York City-headquartered company is considering a move that would result in the merger of MySpace and other of Murdoch’s web interests with Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal wrote last week.