Alibaba chairman Jack Ma said he was "very interested" in buying Yahoo, the troubled internet giant which ousted its chief executive last month.
Yahoo owns 40% of the Chinese internet group.
Ma, speaking at an event at Stanford University in California, said: "We are very interested in Yahoo because our Alibaba Group is so important to Yahoo, and Yahoo is also very important to us.
"There are so many people who are interested in that, and we are also talking to them."
Yahoo has previously been tipped to be in merger talks with AOL.
Last week, Yahoo said it had fielded inquiries from a number of parties about the possible sale of the business, which has become increasingly unstable following the firing of former chief executive Carol Bartz.
Alibaba was founded in 1998. The web-based business is based in China and runs online marketplaces for business-to-business customers.
In 2005, Yahoo announced a long-term partnership with Alibaba in China. Alibaba acquired Yahoo China as part of a strategic partnership which also involved the two working together and sharing resources to grow the Yahoo brand in the Asian country.
Yahoo and Alibaba were unavailable for comment.
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