The internet company will convert its 15% stake in Alibaba, together with one of its legacy businesses, into an independently registered entity.

Internet company Yahoo revealed plans yesterday to spin off its 15% stake in China-based e-commerce company Alibaba into a separate company.

US-based Yahoo paid $1bn in 2005 to acquire a 40% stake in Alibaba. It sold $9.5bn of shares in Alibaba’s initial public offering last year but still owns 384 million shares in the company, worth a total of about $40bn.

Yahoo intends to list the shares, together with an as yet undisclosed “legacy, ancillary Yahoo business” as an independent…