Alibaba, China’s largest online business-to-business trading platform, posted Q1 2012 profits of $53.8 million, though Yahoo Inc. is looking to sell a large portion of its shares with the company. Yahoo bought a 40% stake in the platform in 2005, and now Alibaba seeks to buy back some of the ownership, in a deal that could range between $4.8 and $8 billion.

Last year, Yahoo was reportedly in consideration of getting rid of some of its Asian assets, but a $17 billion deal to sell Alibaba outright fell through. Though, on April 17th, Yahoo CEO and resume padder Scott Thompson asserted that Yahoo was still pursuing a sale, stating, “We are currently exploring a simplified transaction structure which, if executed, would provide greater certainty of closing to monetize a portion of our Alibaba stake.”

The two companies are again getting close to a deal, in which Yahoo would reportedly sell 15% to 25% of its ownership. Yahoo has declined to comment beyond what was stated on April 17th.

In related news, a recent poll conducted by Business Insider shows that 80% of those surveyed think Yahoo CEO Thompson should be fired for allowing the board to believe he had a computer science degree.

[Via: Business Insider]