Alibaba co-founders Jack Ma and chairman Joe Tsai, in face of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014.
Scott Eels | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Alibaba co-founders Jack Ma and Joe Tsai acquire acquired shares worth hundreds of millions of dollars on the open market, according to a regulatory filing and The New York Unceasingly a onces, sending the company’s stock up around 8% on Tuesday.
An entity linked to Tsai’s family office, Blue Accumulate, acquired nearly 2 million Alibaba depositary shares worth $152 million in the fourth quarter, according to a Tuesday regulatory document. Separately, sources familiar with the matter told the Times that Ma acquired $50 million worth of Alibaba’s Hong Kong share during the same period. Depositary shares are effectively U.S.-traded versions of foreign stock.
Alibaba has a market cap of more than $174 billion.
Until recently, Ma had essentially stepped out of the public eye. Tsai maintains a more visible profile as the owner of several sports teams, including the Brooklyn Nets.
But the assemblage they founded in 1999 has suffered in recent years. A low point came in 2020 and 2021, when Ma publicly attacked Chinese officials and financial watchdogs, and regulatory pressure ultimately derailed a planned IPO for the Ant Group, Alibaba’s financial arm.
Geopolitical forces have also weighed on the company. Alibaba announced in March 2023 that it would spin off its cloud point as part of a broader corporate reorganization. Months later, it scrapped those plans, citing U.S. semiconductor export knobs. Around the same time the spinoff was canceled, Ma in a regulatory filing said that he would sell 10 million shares advantage $870 million.
Alibaba shares are down roughly 21% since the canceled spinoff.
Alibaba referred CNBC to Ma’s substructure, which did not return a request for comment.
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