f Alibaba, of which Yahoo owns roughly 40%. The companies, which have traded barbs over the action, have taken steps to resolve the dispute, although no solution has been put forward publicly. Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz, co-founder Jerry Yang and Chief Financial Officer Timothy Morse kicked off the investor day with a conversation about the Alipay incident, saying Yahoo, Alibaba and Japan's Softbank Corp. (9984.TO), which also owns a large stake in Alibaba, are making "significant progress" in resolving the problem. Bartz also stood by Yahoo's approach to the huge Chinese market. "The core strategy of investing in Alibaba Group has clearly been the right way to invest in the China market," she said. Bartz noted the companies have agreed that the value of the relationship between Alipay and Alibaba's online retail marketplace, Taobao, must be preserved within Taobao. They also agreed that Alibaba must be "appropriately compensated" for the value of the Alipay business that isn't linked to Taobao, she said. "All parties are working very hard to come to a resolution that successfully implements these principles," Bartz said. "Alibaba's management is very committed and cooperative in working with Yahoo and Softbank." She added that Yahoo's disclosure about Alipay was "timely and appropriate." She said negotiations between the companies will be kept private. Yahoo has faced criticism for not disclosing the transfer earlier. The company has said it became aware of the change by the end of March. Yahoo shares have dropped 12% since it disclosed Alibaba had transferred ownership of Alipay. In Wednesday trading, they recently rose about 1% to $16.27. Yahoo has been restructuring into a more focused company, though the strategy has yet to yield convincing results. A major part of Yahoo's turnaround plan, a seall be a careful step in that direction." One of those steps is the Navy's recent decision to allow women to serve on submarines. Of the 18 women selected for the program, eight will report to their submarines in November to serve as supply corps officers. Others will report to subs next summer. The first eight — all are newly commissioned ensigns — will be divided among four ballistic missile submarines, the USS Wyoming, USS Georgia, USS Maine and the USS Ohio. And there will be a senior female officer — likely a lieutenant — on each of the subs to serve as a mentor and work with the ensigns to help with the transition. "We are making a concerted effort to not only look at retaining women, but at bringing more women into the Navy," said Lt. Cmdr. Jean Marie Sullivan, chief of the naval personnel's office of women's policy. With the addition of those women to the subs, the only Navy jobs still closed to female officers are with the SEALs. By announcing the subs and putting a senior female officer on board with the two ensigns, the Navy says it is working to ensure a smooth transition that will gradually put women on attack subs. And, as more female officers merge into the ranks, they will pave the way for the eventual inclusion of enlisted women. Currently, however, the cramped quarters on subs don't provide adequate berthing for enlisted women, and it would be costly to make the necessary modifications. Overall, the Air Force has the highest percentage of women in its ranks, with a bit more than 19 percent. The Navy is close behind, with nearly 17 percent women, followed by the Army with 13 percent and the Marines with less than 7 percent. On Friday, women made up almost 21 percent of the 2011 graduation class of sailors at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., and more than 17 percent of the Marines. Across the services, just a handful of jobs are closed to women, and those are mainly combat, infantry, artillery, pararescue, tank and special operations forces. The growth in the number of women in the military, and their increasing roles in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, may be tearing down slowly the remaining walls that bar them from serving in front line combat. Earlier this year, a military advisory panel recommended that the final areas of discrimination be dismantled, bucking concerns that women lack the strength and stamina to fulfill those grueling jobs, or that