SHARES offered by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and its backers are likely to account for more of the Chinese company’s initial public offering (IPO) as Yahoo Inc. scales back, sources with knowledge of the matter said yesterday.

    Alibaba, in its IPO filings, hasn’t identified any selling shareholders other than Yahoo. Yahoo said Tuesday it has cut the maximum number of shares it can sell in the IPO to 140 million from 208 million.

    Alibaba and investors other than Yahoo can make up the difference by increasing the amount they plan to sell, the sources said. The size of the IPO and valuation are still under discussion, and once the price range and IPO share count are decided, Alibaba and its current shareholders will determine how much they will sell, the sources said.

    The smaller amount Yahoo can sell represents about 6 percent of Hangzhou-based Alibaba, the IPO prospectus shows. Yahoo first invested in Alibaba in 2005 and owns a total of 524 million shares of the company, or around 23 percent of the Chinese company, the IPO filings show.

    At current estimates of Alibaba’s value, the stake Yahoo is offering is worth about US$10 billion. (SD-Agencies)