Alibaba’s top shareholders
Alibaba’s shareholder list contains some well-known names from around the globe — from China and Japan to Singapore, Silicon Valley and Russia. Here is a breakdown and guide to the biggest names to profit from the listing.
Softbank (34.4 per cent): Out of the hundreds of investments led by the ambitious chief executive of Japanese telecom Softbank, Alibaba will likely prove among the most prescient. Masayoshi Son put down $20m in 2000 for what was then a one-year old Chinese ecommerce company. Now, it is the largest shareholder. The value of the stake could be worth more than $40bn, depending on Alibaba’s final pricing.
Yahoo (22.6 per cent): In 2005, Yahoo’s co-founder and then chief executive Jerry Yang invested $1bn in Alibaba and contributed Yahoo China to Alibaba, to own around 40 per cent of Alibaba at the time. (Softbank, Alibaba’s other major shareholder, had once held a major stake in Yahoo too, and the Taiwan-born Yang had collaborated with them on the launch of Yahoo! Japan.) In 2012, Yahoo sold about half its stake back to Alibaba for $7.1bn.
Its remaining stake is now worth around $27bn and leaves the Silicon Valley company, now led by Marissa Mayer, as the second largest shareholder in the Chinese group.
Following clashes between the two companies’ management, Yahoo agreed to sell part of its stake stake in Alibaba once it goes public, and its current representative on Alibaba’s board, chief development officer Jackie Reses, will step down after the IPO.
Ms Mayer has hinted that her company will use proceeds from the IPO to do more deals, but may face some resistance: some analysts question the value of Yahoo’s core business ex-Alibaba, a discussion likely to gain momentum once the listing is completed.
Jack Ma (8.9 per cent) and Joseph Tsai (3.6 per cent): Mr Ma is a former English teacher and Alibaba’s founder. As a result of his stake in the company, he is one of China’s richest men. He stepped down as chief executive last year to focus on tackling China’s environmental problems, he said at the time. Mr Tsai is the company’s executive vice-chairman and was a member of the company’s founding team.
Other known major shareholders, although not listed in Tuesday’s filing include the following.
Temasek: The Singaporean government’s investment company participated in Alibaba’s 2011 investment round alongside DST and Silver Lake which valued the group at $32bn. It made a follow-on investment in Alibaba last year, according to the fund’s 2013 report.
DST: Technology fund DST, led by Russian entrepreneur Yuri Milner, was among the groups that participated in Alibaba’s 2011 capital raising.
Silver Lake: Silicon Valley-based Silver Lake has been associated with Alibaba for longer than nearly any other foreign investment group. Led by its Asian head Ken Hao, the company invested in Alibaba’s 2011 fundraising. Other notable Silver Lake deals include partially funding the privatisation of computer-maker Dell last year.
Yunfeng Capital: A China-based private equity firm founded by Jack Ma. It has participated in multiple rounds of investment in Alibaba.
