Alibaba (BABA) is one of the global leaders in e-commerce and is likened to Amazon, eBay, PayPal, and Google all rolled into one. The company went public with a record-shattering $25 billion IPO in September 2014—the largest stock offering in history, until Saudi Aramco went public in 2019.
Alibaba has grown to be one of China’s largest companies, with extensive influence in the world. It first gained control over the Chinese e-commerce market, with a reported 42% of online retail sales in China going through the company in 2023. It offers a suite of products for storefronts that want to compete in the e-commerce market. The company’s key business segments include mobile media and entertainment, cloud computing, and core commerce, along with other developing initiatives.
Although Alibaba is a Chinese company, it trades on the New York Stock Exchange as an American depositary receipt. The largest reported shareholders are SoftBank, PrimeCap Management, and Sanders Capital, along with co-founders Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai.
Alibaba reported revenues of CNY 950 billion for the twelve months prior to Oct. 2024, equivalent to about USD $135 billion. Net income was CNY 70 billion, equal to USD $10 billion. The company has a market capitalization of $250 billion as of Oct. 2024.
Key Takeaways
- Alibaba, one of the world’s largest companies, launched its IPO in September 2014 with a record-breaking $25 billion.
- The company is a global e-commerce platform based in China.
- SoftBank, one of Alibaba’s earliest investors, is currently the largest shareholder although it is winding down its stake.
- Joseph Tsai, Ma’s co-founder at Alibaba, is the second-largest shareholder behind SoftBank.
- Jack Ma, PrimeCap Management, and Sanders Capital round out the top five shareholders.
Institutional Shareholders
Softbank Group
SoftBank Group is Alibaba’s largest shareholder, with a stake of 2.7 billion shares, or 14.2% of the company’s ownership, according to Alibaba’s 2024 F-20 filing. The company is an investment management firm that focuses on venture capital funding for technology startups.
In 2000, Alibaba attracted the attention of SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son, who invested $20 million in the young startup. That stake eventually grew to $57 billion, before SoftBank began selling off its shares of Alibaba.
PrimeCap Management
PrimeCap Management Company is Alibaba’s largest shareholder, with a stake of 21.9 million shares which equals 0.91% of the company’s ownership. PrimeCap manages equity portfolios for mutual funds and other institutional investors with about $117 billion of AUM as of Q3 2024. One of the largest funds holding BABA stock is the Vanguard PrimeCap Fund Investor Shares, which holds around 0.51% of Alibaba’s float.
Sanders Capital
Sanders Capital, LLC holds 18.4 million shares of BABA stock, equal to 0.77% of the total trading shares. Sanders Capital is a global investment manager that provides portfolio management services to institutional investors. As of 2024, it has $96 billion in AUM.
Important
Although it is based in China, Alibaba trades in the New York Stock Exchange as an American Depositary Share. Each Alibaba ADS represents ownership of eight ordinary shares.
Individual Insider Holders
The following are the largest known individual holders of Alibaba stock, based on the company’s Form 20-F filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Note that this only includes direct ownership, not shares that are accessible through stock options.
1. Jack Ma
It’s not clear how many shares are controlled by Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, the former executive chair who stepped back from the position in 2019. In 2020, Ma reduced his stake to 1,043,831,112 shares, representing 4.8% of the company’s equity, according to Alibaba’s 20-F filing.
Jack Ma was the largest individual shareholder of the company for many years. In the early 1990s, Ma founded China Pages, one of China’s first Internet companies, and then went on to work for an Internet company backed by the Chinese government. It wasn’t until 1999, though, that he decided to branch out on his own and co-founded Alibaba. In 2019, Ma retired as the company’s executive chair. It was reported that his decision to step down from his formal business role with the company was so that he could focus more on his philanthropic endeavors.
Although Alibaba no longer reports the ownership stake of its former chair, Ma still has substantial holdings of his former company. In 2023, Ma disclosed plans to sell 10 million shares that were held indirectly by entities linked to his philanthropic foundation. Although the sale did not proceed, the total value would have been $871 million.
According to Forbes, Ma has a net worth of $23.5 billion and is one of the wealthiest people in the world. He also owns a stake in the Chinese media and entertainment company Huayi Brothers.
2. Joseph Tsai
Alibaba co-founder and chairman Joseph Tsai is the largest known shareholder in the company, with 309 million shares equaling 1.4% of the outstanding stock. Tsai is a Taiwanese-Canadian businessman who met Ma while working for the Hong Kong branch of an investment company.
Tsai quit his high-paying job to work with Jack Ma to create the online import-export marketplace that would eventually become Alibaba. According to Forbes, Tsai’s net worth is $9.5 billion. He also owns the Brooklyn Nets NBA basketball team and has two degrees from Yale.
Who Is Alibaba’s Biggest Shareholder?
Japan’s SoftBank is BABA’s largest shareholder, owning around 14% of the company according to Alibaba’s 2024 Form F-20 filing. Its stake used to be as much as 25%, before SoftBank sold a record $29 billion over 2022.
Is Alibaba Bigger Than Amazon?
Amazon is larger than Alibaba. In terms of market cap, Amazon’s $1.98 trillion value is nearly eight times bigger than BABA’s $250 billion. Amazon also earned more than $600 billion in revenue over the twelve months prior to Oct. 2024, compared to $133 billion at Alibaba.
Is Alibaba Listed In the U.S.?
Alibaba is a Chinese company with ADRs listed on U.S. exchanges under the ticker BABA.
The Bottom Line
Alibaba is one of the world’s largest ecommerce giants, with a valuation in the hundreds of billions. Although it is based in China, it trades on the New York Stock Exchange. The largest shareholders are founders and early investors, like SoftBank and chairman Joe Tsai.
Read the original article on Investopedia.