Alibaba.com, China’s biggest e-commerce firm is also the world’s largest online shark fin trader. Yahoo! has a US-$ 1 billion stake in Alibaba, representing a 40% shareholding. As reported, soon they will increase their investment in Alibaba by another 10%.

Activist groups, individuals, media organizations have approached both Alibaba.com and Yahoo! with a view to induce them to drop the shark fin trade. The reaction from them was utterly disappointing. While the Alibaba.com executives stated that they do not wish to “take sides” in the ongoing “controversy”, Yahoo! innocently claimed that they are not in a position to interfere with the business policies of corporations in which they don’t have a majority shareholding.

The fact of the matter is that both firms do not want to end the highly lucrative trade of shark fins. They blatantly ignore the well-founded conclusion of internationally renowned marine experts that the indiscriminate mass killing of sharks solely for their fins is driving many species toward extinction with catastrophic consequences for the biodiversity of the oceans.

By offering international shark fin dealers a convenient platform to do business Alibaba.com / Yahoo! are fueling the often illegal finning of sharks and, thus, actively and recklessly contribute to an environmental disaster they are very well aware of.

Here is an article that was published by Business Week recently:

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2007/gb20070720_756191.htm

And here you will find a letter from the CEO of the Sea Shepherd Society to the President of Yahoo!:

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_071004_1_article.html

Cheers,

Wolfgang Leander

http://www.thestreet.com/tech/jonathanberr/10251546.html