According to regulatory records, SoftBank has sold most of its shares in Alibaba, the largest online retailer in China. Following the disclosure, shares of Alibaba dropped by approximately 3% in after-hours trade. Through prepaid forward contracts, SoftBank sold around $7.2 billion worth of Alibaba shares, bringing its ownership of the company down to just 3.8%. When Alibaba was valued more than $100 billion three years ago, SoftBank owned about 25% of the company. Since the company’s Vision Fund has seen significant quarterly losses in previous years, SoftBank has decided to take a more cautious stance. In 2000, Alibaba’s founder Masayoshi Son spent $20 million there.
Alibaba stated earlier this year that it will split into six business units, each of which would have the option of obtaining its own finance and going public. The restructure was “designed to unlock shareholder value and foster market competitiveness,” the business said in a statement. Regulational worries about Chinese internet companies have recently caused investors to sell off Chinese tech equities, which is why SoftBank decided to sell its share in the e-commerce company. Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank, left the board of Alibaba in 2020, not long after Jack Ma, the other co-founder of Alibaba, left the SoftBank board.
