By Kevin McCauley
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, which may make a bid for Yahoo, has hired The Duberstein Group to guide it though the federal regulatory/political thicket.
Alibaba founder Jack Ma has expressed an interest in acquiring Yahoo, which owns a 40 percent stake in his company.
The well-connected Republican politico Ken Duberstein, who was chief of staff in the Reagan White House, is leading the lobbying push for Alibaba.
A potential deal for Yahoo could meet strong political opposition due to China’s censorship of the Internet. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which is Alibaba’s law firm, hired TDG to work Washington.
The Duberstein/Alibaba team includes Mike Berman, former aide to Vice President Fritz Mondale; Dan Meyer; ex-chief of staff to House Speaker Newt Gingrich and assistant for legislative affairs for president George W. Bush, and Eric Ueland, chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
Japan’s Softbank owns a 32 percent stake of Alibaba.
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