The issues with all of that Merger&#x2F;Acquisition stuff are basically tax problems. Anything that locks in the share price of their stake in BABA means they need to pay taxes. The spinoff company didn&#x27;t get IRS approval, so their only option to avoid as much as they can of that is to peel off the non-BABA parts of the company and then there might be some kind of share deal that could get approval.<p>Basically, cash for any of the BABA shares means they take a big tax hit. Share deals could maybe avoid this (which is what the &quot;activist&quot; investors are pushing for) but would need regulatory approval and likely to sell or close down the rest of the company.