Following on from its marathon boardroom meeting last week, Yahoo! Inc. has announced it’s no longer looking to spin off its $31 billion stake in the Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Limited. Instead, the company is to adopt an alternative plan aimed at spinning off its core Internet businesses, as well as its stake in Yahoo! Japan, to a new spin-off company.

If and when this happens, it’ll mean that Yahoo becomes two companies, with shareholders receiving stock in the newly spun-off company.

Maynard Webb, Yahoo’s chairman of the board of directors, said the company was worried about the market’s perception of a tax risk that would have impacted on the value of “Aabaco”, a planned spin-off company that would’ve held Yahoo’s shares in Alibaba. As a result, Yahoo is now suspending its plans for Aabaco indefinitely.

The “tax risk” Webb is referring to is the previously reported $10 billion tax bill Yahoo would face if it decided to sell off its Alibaba stake. Last month, the activist investment firm Starboard Value LP said that it would be better to sell off Yahoo’s Internet businesses as a way of creating shareholder value, as it would result in a significantly lower tax bill.

“Informed by our intimate familiarity with Yahoo’s unique circumstances, the Board remains committed to accomplishing the significant business purposes and shareholder benefits that can be realized by separating the Alibaba stake from the rest of Yahoo,” Webb said in a statement to the press. “To achieve this, we will now focus our efforts on the reverse spin off plan.”

That plan could take up to a year or more to complete, and will necessitate getting the approval of both shareholders and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Currently, Yahoo’s stake in Yahoo Japan is believed to be worth around $8.5 billion, while its core Internet business is valued at around $3.9 billion. The thinking is that by spinning off the latter, it should be easier to find a buyer for those assets.

Yahoo’s announcement comes at a time when investors are growing increasingly concerned over the company’s future. The firm has seen its share price fall by more than 30 percent since the beginning of the year, and CEO Marissa Mayer has faced calls to resign from some quarters over her apparent inability to turn things around. However, Re/Code reported last week that Yahoo’s board reiterated its support for Mayer, which means she’s likely to stick around for the time being at least.

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