The issues with all of that Merger/Acquisition stuff are basically tax problems. Anything that locks in the share price of their stake in BABA means they need t

The issues with all of that Merger/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'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. 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 "activist" investors are pushing for) but would need regulatory approval and likely to sell or close down the rest of the company.