CFO Tim Morse had promised to return the money to shareholders by way of a stock buyback. But, last month -- in a move that quickly depressed Yahoo's shares and angered major investors -- the company filed a statement saying that Mayer was reevaluating that move and could keep the money for other strategic reasons. Given what a huge windfall it is getting, it will be interesting to see if the board of Yahoo -- which is meeting next week, sources said -- will choose to return a portion of the Alibaba money to shareholders. A recent similar move by AOL -- using money it got from selling patents -- was partially the reason for the recent run-up in its stock. Yahoo could also presumably also give a special dividend to shareholders, but that is less likely. That will be the question once Yahoo gets its cash in the kitty, which is no small feat. The complicated transaction spans the globe, given the size of the borrowing -- $8 billion, which will value Alibaba at $43 billion -- that the company is doing to regain some control from Yahoo. The deal includes debt, as well as the sale of both convertible preferred and common shares, and includes a wide range of players. That includes current investors, such as Silver Lake, DST Global and Singapore's Temasek Holdings, as well as many others. "This is a lot of money flying around the world to complete this," said one person close to the