This is a response to an article on Forbes.

With the record-breaking IPO of Alibaba last month, it left many pondering on why they hadn’t invested in it sooner. Terry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo, won’t be asking that question because he “made the most lucrative bet in Silicon Valley History.” The $1 billion dollars that he invested in Ma’s Alibaba on behalf of Yahoo back in 2005, made them one of the largest share-holders at 30%. Yahoo later sold off a chunk last year at $13/share but the 16% stake they still own is valued at over $36 billion. Yang investment is a redemption from being ousted from his own company when he refused to sell Yahoo to Microsoft while his company slowly lost to Google. His own company AME also primarily invests in tech startups including Evernote and Tango. What we can appreciate from Yang’s successful business ventures is his ability to see the potential of a company. When he first met Ma (as a tour guide for the Great Wall), Alibaba was still run from its HangZhou apartment. Despite Yahoo evidently losing to Google in the race of being a No. 1 search engine, Yang was able to move on from the past and form his new company that he claims he is “able to do things at [his] own pace, make mistakes” and happier.