http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904800304576475830933271772.html?mod=technology_newsreel

I cannot really blame Yahoo. The company has been struggling since Yahoo’s Jerry Yang blew the original Microsoft deal.

Carol Bartz, CEO of Yahoo, has had a tough time turning lemons into lemonade. You can criticize Yahoo for not understanding how to do business in China but that is not helpful.

The best way to look at the Yahoo-Alibaba situation is that Yahoo made the best of a bad situation.  China is "the 800 pound gorilla in the room".

What investors ought to be wondering about is: What was Jerry Yang doing about the situation? Think about it; he invested $1B in Alibaba and still owns a chunk of Yahoo. Worse still, Yang sits on the board of Alibaba. So is this the best that Yang could do to help out Yahoo? The answer is probably Yes. The fact is that China is a tough place to do business. Yahoo was not in a negotiating position against Alibaba. Jack Ma was clearly in the position of strength. Yahoo got the best it would ever get.  So don't blame Bartz or Yang.

If you have to measure who got the short end of the deal it would be Yahoo. Alibaba made out infinitely better. However, bear in mind Yahoo did not lose a lot. The $6B cap and the $2B floor are not all that bad; it is better than nothing.