Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma cut his holdings in the e-commerce company to 4.8% from 6.2% over the past year, according to the company's annual report released on Friday. At the current share price, the stake he sold would be worth around $8.2 billion. Ma, who is currently China's second-richest person, with a net worth of $47.8 billion according to Forbes, retired from being Alibaba's chairman last year to focus on philanthropy.
Ma's divestment follows in the footsteps of several top executives at China's tech and e-commerce giants including Tencent and Pinduoduo, even as the companies' share prices rose sharply as the COVID-19 pandemic drove consumers online. Tencent founder and chairman Pony Ma sold about 14.7 million shares for HK$6.27 billion ($810 million) in the first half of 2020, while Tencent's Martin Lau reduced his holding by HK$254 million. In July, Colin Huang, founder of e-commerce upstart Pinduoduo, stepped down as chief executive officer, selling roughly $14 billion worth of shares to support philanthropy and future management.
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