Softbank Intends To Sell Its Almost Entire Stake In Alibaba

SoftBank Group intends to sell almost its entire remaining stake in Alibaba Group Holding Limited, according to a report of Financial Times. The company had notified about it through a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

SoftBank will reduce its holding of the Chinese e-commerce Group to just 3.8%. As per the report, the Japanese group, led by billionaire founder Masayoshi Son, sold about 7.2 billion USD worth of Alibaba shares this year through prepaid forward contracts.

SoftBank informed FT, in order to address the uncertainty in the business environment, Alibaba transactions reflected its shift to "a defensive mode". More details of the deal would be announced through its quarterly results announcement in May, the company added.

Neither of the companies, Alibaba and SoftBank respond to Reuters' requests for comment, while Alibaba's US-listed shares dropped 1.3% in after-market trade.

Last year SoftBank booked a gain of 34 billion USD by cutting its stake in Alibaba to 14.6% from 23.7%, when the e-commerce firm sought to shore up its cash reserves amid steep losses incurred by its Vision Fund unit.

Alibaba has lost more than two-thirds of its value from the highs it touched in late 2020, hit by Beijing's crackdown on the tech sector that included a hefty fine on Alibaba and scrutiny of founder Jack Ma's business