Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. appear to be taking steps to make up.

After trading barbs last week over the controversial ownership transfer of Alibaba's online-payments business Alipay--one of Alibaba's most important websites--Yahoo and Alibaba issued a joint statement Sunday saying they were trying to resolve their dispute.

In the statement, the companies said they are 'committed to productive negotiations to resolve the outstanding issues' on Alipay.

Yahoo, which is based in Silicon Valley, and China-based Alibaba declined to comment further.

The statement was the first sign of a potential thaw in what had been an escalating and highly public war of words between the Internet companies, which have long been partners in China. Yahoo, which holds a nearly 40% stake in Alibaba, said last week it was blindsided by Alibaba's report that it had transferred ownership of Alipay to a company owned by Alibaba's chief executive, Jack Ma.

Alibaba countered that Yahoo and Japan-based Softbank Corp. (9984.TO), which also has a significant stake in Alibaba, had been updated on the plan frequently since 2009. The ownership transfer was done to comply with certain Chinese regulations, Alibaba said.

The dispute sent shares of Yahoo down sharply last week as some investors fretted that Alibaba might make similar moves in the future that would dilute the value of Yahoo's Alibaba stake, which is said to be worth as much as $10 billion.

Sunday's brief statement left many questions regarding the Alipay ownership transfer. While the statement gave the companies more of a united front, there is no sign they are closer to resolving their longtime differences, which have ranged from Alibaba's management of the Yahoo China website to Yahoo's unwillingness to sell back part or all of its stake to Alibaba, which has become an e-commerce powerhouse in China.

Over the weekend, Alibaba's Mr. Ma also weighed in on the dispute. At a shareholders meeting for Alibaba.com Ltd. (1688.HK, ALBIY) in Hong Kong on Saturday, Mr. Ma said the Alipay ownership transfer was '100% legal and 100% transparent.' Alibaba.com is a subsidiary of Alibaba Group.

'We will not do something underhanded or secretive that we have to keep from the board of directors,' Mr. Ma said, adding that talks with Yahoo and Softbank are under way. Mr. Ma's comments appeared on one of Alibaba's websites.

雅虎公司(Yahoo Inc.)和阿里巴巴集团(Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.)似乎正在采取措施力图重归于好。

上周，雅虎和阿里巴巴围绕阿里巴巴旗下在线支付公司支付宝(Alipay)存在争议的所有权转移问题相互指责；周日双方发表联合声明，说它们正在努力化解争端。支付宝是阿里巴巴最重要的网站之一。

两家公司在声明中说，他们致力于通过有成效的谈判解决有关支付宝的未解决问题。

总部位于硅谷的雅虎和总部位于中国的阿里巴巴拒绝进一步置评。

两家互联网公司之间的口水战曾不断加剧，并且相当公开，联合声明的发表是这场论战有可能缓和的第一个迹象。雅虎上周说，阿里巴巴的报告说它已将支付宝所有权划转到阿里巴巴首席执行长马云(Jack Ma)所有的一家公司，让雅虎毫无防备。雅虎和阿里巴巴在中国长期合作，前者持有阿里巴巴接近40%的股权。

阿里巴巴反驳说，2009年以来，雅虎和同样持有阿里巴巴不少股权的日本软库(Softbank Corp.)曾多次了解到有关支付宝所有权转移方案的最新情况。阿里巴巴说，转移支付宝所有权是为了遵守中国某些规定。

争端导致雅虎股价在上周大幅下跌，因为投资者担心阿里巴巴将来有可能采取类似的措施，稀释雅虎所持阿里巴巴股份的价值。据说，这批股份的价值最多有100亿美元。

周日的简短声明没有回答有关支付宝所有权转移的很多问题。虽然声明让两家公司更多地站到了一条统一战线上，但没有迹象表明它们离解决长期以来的分歧更近了一步。这些分歧包括阿里巴巴对“中国雅虎”网站的管理，也包括雅虎不愿意将其所持股份全部或部分地卖回给已经成为中国电子商务巨头的阿里巴巴。

阿里巴巴的马云在周末介入争端。阿里巴巴网络股份有限公司(Alibaba.com Ltd.)周六在香港召开的股东大会上，马云说，支付宝所有权的转让“百分之百合法”，“百分之百透明”。阿里巴巴网络是阿里巴巴集团的子公司。

马云说：“不可能说董事会不知道，我们就悄悄办了。”他还说，与雅虎、软库的沟通正在进行。马云的发言出现在阿里巴巴的一个网站上。