Alibaba is a big deal

The $4.8 billion sale of Yahoo’s core business to Verizon Communications sweeps away the bestknown operations of the Sunnyvale, Calif., company, but hardly its most valuable ones.

Left behind in a company temporarily named Remain Co. are $40 billion in assets — namely Yahoo’s stakes in Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan.

There are also roughly 3,000 patents that Chief Executive Marissa Mayer will have to sell. They have been placed in a company called Excalibur IP and are worth about $1 billion.

The Verizon deal will give Yahoo a massive tax benefit that will, in turn, cut its tax bill in any sale of its 15-percent stake in Alibaba by somewhere between $8 billion and $12 billion, according to Eric Handa, CEO of consulting firm APTelecom.

Yahoo execs said Monday they plan to hold their stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan, worth more than $30 billion combined, “indefinitely” — most likely because of the looming tax bill.

The patents will probably be sold in the near term.

Also on Yahoo’s books once the Verizon deal closes in early 2017 will be more than $10 billion in cash.

That money, Yahoo insiders said, will be returned to shareholders.

Last week, Yahoo revealed its second-quarter revenue excluding Webtraffic acquisition costs dropped 19 percent. Yahoo’s loss swelled to $440 million as the value of its $1.1 billion Tumblr acquisition shrank by $482 million.

Yahoo shares on Monday fell 2.7 percent, to $38.32, while Verizon shares dipped just 23 cents, to $55.87.