Remember the $7 billion deal we were talking about on Friday with Yahoo and Chinese-based Alibaba? Well, they are making it official. Yahoo has agreed to sell off its shares of the Alibaba empire. A majority will be purchased back by the company and the remained will be sold after the Alibaba IPO, whenever that is. The deal was announced formally yesterday in a joint press release. Yahoo currently holds a 40% stake in the Chinese company. 20% will be bought back by Alibaba during the rest of 2012, the other 20% will be sold off at the time of Alibaba’s IPO. The negotiation brings a conclusion to a long dispute between the two parties about what should be done with Yahoo’s controlling shares of Alibaba. Ross Levinsohn, Interim CEO of Yahoo comments on the deal being made official: “Today’s agreement provides clarity for our shareholders on a substantial component of Yahoo!’s value and reaffirms the significance of our relationship with Alibaba,” “We look forward to continued collaboration with the Alibaba team on business initiatives as we explore joint opportunities for growth and benefit from Alibaba’s future. I want to thank Jack Ma, Joe Tsai and the Alibaba team, as well as Tim Morse, Michael Callahan and our Yahoo! team for their dedication in achieving this successful outcome.” Jack Ma, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group also comments on the deal: “This transaction opens a new chapter in our relationship with Yahoo!,” “I look forward to working with Ross Levinsohn and the Yahoo! team as Alibaba builds China’s leading e-commerce company. Yahoo!’s global audience reach will provide attractive partnership opportunities for Alibaba to explore markets outside of China. The transaction will establish a balanced ownership structure that enables Alibaba to take our business to the next level as a public company in the future.” The deal represents a significant value to Yahoo shareholders. If you remember, Yahoo recently experienced an overhaul in leadership after a bloody proxy battle with investment firm Third Point and activist shareholder Dan Loeb. Yahoo is expected to be making some drastic changes as a result of the battle in the coming months.

comScore released the online video rankings for April today and in what is Jack’s complete lack of surprise, Google reigns for yet another month. The most significant change in the rankings for April, though, is the dip in total unique views that Yahoo! had, dropping over 6 million viewers from March. Yahoo managed to still secure the spot as the second-most visited site for online video with 53.6 million unique visitors, but the gap between the site and the third-ranked online video site, VEVO, has narrowed substantially. In all, the internet-enabled people of the United States took in nearly 37 billion videos in April, which is on par with last month’s figures. As far as advertising goes, Americans (im)patiently waited through 9.5 billion video ads in April. Once again, Hulu was the top purveyor of video ads by feeing the hungry eyes of video watchers with almost 1.6 billion ads. The rankings beneath Hulu roughly remained the same although SpotXchange stormed the top ten list to claim the number six spot. In all, video ads reached 52% of the U.S. population and presented nearly 60 ads per viewer. The average length of ads in April was a little less than 30 seconds whereas the average length of actual videos was almost 6:30. Not a bad return, but those ads accounted for 20.5% of all videos watched. The leaders among the YouTube partner channels also remained largely unchanged in April, with VEVO topping the list once again with over 48 million unique viewers, nearly equalling the channel’s numbers from March. However, YouTube fans seem to have weened themselves off from clips of the The Ellen Show as it disappeared from the list in April after hovering around for the past couple of months. Of the internet-y people in the United States, 84.5% of them watched an online video in April. Given that online video hardly seems avoidable these days if you spend any amount of time on the internet, it’s rather impressive that over 15% of internet users dodged all online videos last month. You must all be very well read.

Before Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson offered his resignation at Yahoo he visited China several times and met with Alibaba CEO Jack Ma. The two CEOs along with Yahoo’s CFO Tim Morse and legal head Mike Callahan were working out a deal to determine what should be done with Yahoo’s large stake in the Chinese company. Apparently that deal came to somewhat of a resolution before Thompson left the firm. The main gist involves Yahoo selling a majority of their shares back to Alibaba, who is currently raising capital for those efforts. It is quite a bit more involved than just the buyback however, Alibaba has plans for an IPO brewing. The deal further requires Yahoo to part with the remainder of their stock in Alibaba after the company goes public. So it’s kind of a half now, half later agreement. According to All Things D, Yahoo is holding about a 40% share of Alibaba which is valued at $7 billion. Currently Alibaba is valued at $35 billion, so it is safe to say Yahoo will make some rerun on their investment with the sale. Despite the recent shift in power over at Yahoo the deal with Alibaba is still expected to be approved. If you remember, Dan Loeb got his way and with Thompson out of the picture, he is now on the board of directors and Ross Levinsohn is acting as interim CEO.

Yahoo! Small Business Advisor vice president and GM Tom Byun spoke with WebProNews today, to relate some new features and share some insight regarding the platform. Most recently, a new press release generator was added to its business tools, in tandem with PR Newswire. The PR wizard walks one through all the steps required to create a professional-style press release. Here’s a screen shot: A user can generate titles, dates, locations, paragraphs, a boilerplate (A standard paragraph that describes one’s business – who you are and what you do) and contact information, which can then be either printed or copied to HTML for free. A user can also incorporate Yahoo! Reach, to better distribute their newly generated release. A small business owner can also glean tips for writing and formatting their press releases by visiting the PR Toolkit. Yahoo! Small Business also recently launched a new Marketing Dashboard, and Byun says that there’s been a healthy interest in free dashboard signups, with overall positive feedback. Byun also points out that as a whole, the platform facilitates the “unique and helpful voice” of bloggers, thinkers and influencers of their respective communities. Along with assisting celebrity entrepreneurs who’ve adopted the platform build their brands, including chef Ming Tsai, Dr. Phil and Lance Armstrong, Yahoo’s Small Business Advisor has developed an excellent forum for local business leaders to showcase their knowledge and perspective regarding their fields. An expert plumber can convey trade-secret tactics gleaned over time, in the same arena where a famed pop-psychologist can muse upon assessments, utilizing the same personalization element powered by Yahoo’s C.O.R.E system – all offered to early-stage and established entrepreneurs who adopt the platform.

When Facebook hit Yahoo back with their own claim for patent infringement, Yahoo claimed that Facebook made fraudulent claims on some of their patents. In reality, they didn’t even check court records to verify. Back in late April, Yahoo filed a motion with the federal judge in the case requesting the patents that Facebook countersued with be thrown out on the grounds that they were “tainted by inequitable conduct”. In other words, Facebook failed to mention the name of known inventors, and added new information to already filed patents. As ZDNet reports, on at least one of those claims, Yahoo never even bothered to look at the documents that prove Facebook’s innocence. The patent in question, for a “controlled distribution of user profiles over a network”, was filed by Chris Chea, under his name. Yahoo claimed that it should be declared invalid because Joseph Liauw was named under the first patent filing but not on the second. Yahoo said that this was misleading and intentionally deceptive, adding that the only way to get his name removed from the patent was through a signed affidavit. Only problem is, they never actually checked to see if an affidavit was signed. Which it was. Facebook’s statement posted on AllThingsDigital: “Yahoo claims that two of the ten patents Facebook asserts are unenforceable due to inequitable conduct. But all of these allegations are unsupportable and/or deficient. First, Yahoo claims these patents do not list Joseph Liauw as an inventor and that there is no sworn statement by Mr. Liauw in the Patent Office records explaining his omission. Yahoo’s claim is demonstrably false. Yahoo made this allegation without actually reviewing the publically available Patent Office records, because these records include the exact sworn statement from Mr. Liauw Yahoo claims is missing.” This is what happens when you don’t do your homework, boys and girls. The judge should allow all of Facebook’s patents to go through, just based on this one incident. It is clear that they are making outlandish claims that have no basis in reality. For Yahoo to claim that Facebook is being deceptive, when they just aren’t doing their jobs puts a black mark on the legitimacy of Yahoo’s claims. Not Facebook’s.

Superhero movies are expected to dominate this year’s summer movie list. The Avengers is still topping the box office right now, drawing huge amounts of ticket sales. But the season is just getting started, and there are many more big budget films (superhero and non-superhero) to come. To keep up with all the major motion pictures, and to keep ticket buyers well aware of what’s coming out, Yahoo Movies has teamed up with major production companies (Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, and Paramount) to release a new in-browser interactive board game called Movieland. Players can interact with customized content, and collect badges that can in turn, score them free movie tickets. People can also buy tickets to shows in the game. Those that do will be entered to win special prizes. Users with the highest badge ratings within the game will be entered to win free movie tickets until the year 2020. Movieland will come to life at this years Comic Con. A life-sized game board will be set up, and fans will be able to physically walk through and interact with stuff as if they were in the game. The giant board game will include real life props from some of the major motion pictures being released this summer. Although this is an obvious marketing ploy to get people more engaged and excited about the movies coming out this summer, it will probably still be a fun game for movie buffs. It will include lots of trivia and the latest trailers for more cool movies. So, if you can get past the idea that the whole experience is just one big advertisement, it might be a fun way to get your fill on summer movie time.

As you may recall, Yahoo and CEO Scott Thompson have agreed to part ways as of yesterday. Thompson, who found himself locked in a battle with activist Yahoo investor Dan Loeb and his venture capital firm Third Point, was accused of providing false credentials in his company biography and other official documents. Doing his best to sidestep the issue, Thompson urged the Yahoo staff to get on with business as usual, but a formal investigation was already underway. With pressure for Yahoo to react, and pressure on Thompson to respond to the allegations, the CEO announced his formal plans to resign late on Sunday. According to Thompson, he was recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and is leaving in order to focus on getting treatment, but doesn’t wish to disclose any further details about his personal health issues. His resignation represents a win for Third Point in the proxy battle against the Yahoo board. With Thompson leaving for medical issues we were left wondering if Yahoo would pay him his severance from his employment offer in light of the recent false credentials scandal, but today we have a definitive answer. Yahoo is claiming they have a “cause” for his departure, which frees them from their obligation under the employment offer Thompson originally signed. Essentially, the false credentials debacle cost Thomson his severance. Before you go feeling too bad for Thompson listen to what he does get to keep. Yahoo has agreed to award him his “Make-Whole” cash bonus and his restricted stock options, both of which sum to about $7 million. In return, he has signed an agreement to not disparage Yahoo or Yahoo disparage him in any future claims. Basically, they agree the separation is mutually beneficial. Here’s a segment from the agreement between Thompson and Yahoo: ” The parties reiterated their obligations with regard to disparagement under Mr. Thompson’s offer letter, providing that Mr. Thompson not knowingly disparage Yahoo! or its officers, directors, employees or agents in any manner likely to be harmful to their respective business, business reputation or personal reputation, and that Yahoo! instruct its Chairman, certain employees and executive officers not to knowingly disparage Mr. Thompson in any manner likely to be harmful to his business, business reputation or personal reputation other than in the good-faith performance of their duties to Yahoo! or in connection with their fiduciary duties to Yahoo! and applicable law.” Ross Levinsohn will stand as the interim CEO and Fred Amoroso will hold the position of Chairman on the Yahoo Board of Directors. Daniel S. Loeb, Harry J. Wilson, and Michael J. Wolf of Third Point have also been added to the board. This marks the beginning of a new era for Yahoo and hopefully a more stable year. So far for 2012 we have seen thousands of lay offs, a loss of a CEO, and multiple resignations on the board of directors. It has to get better than this.

Yahoo Inc. just announced Genome, a new online advertising solution, at Internet Week New York. Below is a clip regarding the new platform: Genome, set to be available sometime in July, combines Yahoo! data, interclick’s third party data and advertisers’ first party data to afford marketers the most complete, custom audience solution on the web. The new platform will fall in line with Yahoo’s ad partnership with AOL and Microsoft, an agreement to allow the swapping of premium non-reserved online display inventory across respective customer bases. Key features of Genome include: Unmatched data set: In order to provide a multi-dimensional view of consumers, Genome provides access to an expansive and diverse data set comprised of Yahoo!’s proprietary data – including registration, search and behavioral data – as well as integrated advertiser information, and data from industry-leading partners. Premium media footprint: Genome allows marketers to directly access Yahoo!’s guaranteed and non-guaranteed premium inventory, as well as inventory available from the Yahoo!, AOL, and Microsoft partnership announced in November, and comScore Top 1,000 publishers – all in transparent and brand safe environments. Actionable insights and analytics suite: From predictive modeling techniques to information design, Genome’s analytics helps marketers sort the big data landscape. This portable suite leverages leading campaign and user analytics to anticipate, optimize, and measure audience performance, turning insights into actionable media executions; marketers can carry their strategies across media plans with partners. Best-in-class audience technology: This proprietary data valuation technology is designed to work with massive data volumes, real-time marketplaces, and multi-vendor solutions, with increased efficiency to help meet marketers’ marketing goals. Genome’s core technology is OSM, an innovative and interconnected technology stack that manages diverse data sources to provide an innovative approach to uncovering optimal audiences at scale, resulting from Yahoo!’s acquisition of interclick. Privacy: As a recognized leader in developing privacy-enhancing tools for consumers and a member of the NAI and DAA, Yahoo! understands the importance of consumer trust and privacy. Yahoo! provides transparency about our data collection and use practices and extends several tools to empower consumers to manage their experience, such as a global opt-out, Ad Interest Manager for visibility and control over specific interest categories, and we’re now among the first in the world to support Do Not Track. Rich Riley, EVP, Americas Region, Yahoo!, states, “Marketers have asked us for a solution that capitalizes on our vast data and our answer to that is Genome – With Genome, we can help marketers transform consumer information and insights into actionable online media executions that enable them to attain the right context and audiences.”

Some of us may have had our doubts about Scott Thompson’s claim that he had nothing to do with the perpetuated myth about him having a computer science degree, but regardless he has agreed to step down from his position as CEO at Yahoo. As we reported earlier he will be replaced by Ross Levinsohn who was previously heading up Yahoo’s global media division. Thompson’s resignation along with some new appointments to the Yahoo board marks a victory for activist investor Dan Loeb and his investment firm Third Point, but as the Wall Street Journal reports, it may be the beginning of a new battle for ex-CEO Thompson. According to the 54-year-old Thompson, he has very recently been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and has already begun the treatment process to help fight the disease. Over the weekend he shared brief details with members of the Yahoo board and cited them as the primary cause for giving his resignation. He also said there would be no public announcement since he wanted to keep the details of his disease private. If you remember back to early last week, Yahoo announced a formal investigation into Thompson’s false credentials. Recently Third Point put huge stress on the Yahoo’s board to take action against Thompson and other Yahoos who allegedly provided false credentials and seemingly deceived their way into positions at the firm. Thompson’s resignation is the second we’ve seen over the controversial false credentials and heated proxy battle with Third Point. Patti Hart, who played an instrumental role in Scott Thompson being hire at the firm, resigned last week. As of this mourning, several of Yahoo’s board have also agreed to step down in order to make room for Third Point’s main man Dan Loeb, leader of the proxy battle, and his colleagues. According to inside sources at Yahoo, Thompson is leaving with a sizable severance package, and presumably, his reputation still intact. No word on if the investigation of his credentials is still going forward with the private law firm Yahoo hired, but it looks like the proxy battle with Third Point has finally come to a head and Third Point is the big winner.

As I reported earlier today, Scott Thompson has decided to step down at Yahoo as CEO citing recently discovered health problems as the main reason. Some may say it comes at very convenient time as he was actively trying to sidestep accusations that he purposefully provided false academic credentials both at his previous job at PayPal and for the position of acting CEO at Yahoo. The accusations came in the form of as a letter from Yahoo activist shareholder Dan Loeb and his investment firm Third Point. They have been fighting for more control at the Yahoo board of directors since the current leadership passed over on a deal with Microsoft which could have made shareholders a lot of money. Today Yahoo has announced new leadership to their board and a new chief executive officer. Effective immediately Ross Levinsohn will stand as the interim CEO and Fred Amoroso will hold the position of Chairman on the Yahoo Board of Directors. Amoroso replaces Roy Bostock, who recently agreed to step down from his role in order to accelerate the changes at Yahoo. The appointments are part of a settlement with Third Point and also includes the addition of Daniel S. Loeb, Harry J. Wilson, and Michael J. Wolf to the Yahoo board. Board members Patti Hart, VJ Joshi, Arthur Kern and Gary Wilson have also agreed to resign their positions at the firm early to make room for the new members. Fred Amoroso, new chairman of the board of directors comments on the changes at Yahoo: “The Board is pleased to announce these changes and the settlement with Third Point, and is confident that they will serve the best interests of our shareholders and further accelerate the substantial advances the Company has made operationally and organizationally since last August. The Board believes in the strength of the Company’s business and assets, and in the opportunities before us, and I am honored to work closely with my fellow directors and Ross to continue to drive Yahoo! forward,” “On behalf of the entire Board, I would also like to thank Patti, VJ, Arthur, Gary and, in particular, Roy, for their dedicated long-term service and contributions to the Board and Yahoo!.” Daniel S. Loeb of Third Point comments on his addition to the Yahoo board: “Harry, Michael and I are delighted to join the Yahoo! Board and work collaboratively with our fellow directors to foster a culture of leadership dedicated to innovation, excellence in corporate governance, and responsiveness to users, advertisers and partners. We are confident this Board will benefit from shareholder representation, and we are committed to working with new leadership to unlock Yahoo!’s significant potential and value.” Third Point Director Nominee Jeff Zucker adds to the sentiment: “I have been supportive of Third Point’s efforts since Daniel asked me to join the slate. When I became aware of Yahoo!’s offer of three board seats to Third Point, I approached Daniel and let him know that I would be happy to step aside to quickly facilitate a settlement. I believe that it is in Yahoo!’s best interests to avoid a prolonged proxy fight and have new board members immediately to help move the company forward. While there is clearly much work to be done, this is the right combination of talented executives to do just that.” There’s in no word yet on if Yahoo will fight now resigned CEO Thompson’s claim that he is leaving on account of medical issues. Disputing the claim could save Yahoo millions of dollars in severance pay. Yahoo’s code of ethic requires that each employee be responsible for the accurate listing of their biographical information. So it looks like the layoffs were only the beginning of the changes at Yahoo. No doubt this new board will be introducing some drastic deviations from Thompson’s original plan of action for the rest of 2012. We’ll keep you posted as things continue to evolve over at Yahoo.