Topline
Billionaire Alibaba executive vice chairman Joe Tsai plans to sell an 8% stake in the Chinese online retailer he cofounded, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, as headwinds coming from Beijing and Washington loom over Alibaba.
Joe Tsai at a Nets-Lakers game last month.
Key Facts
Tsai selected Morgan Stanley to execute the sale of three million of his Alibaba shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange, according to the filing first reported by Bloomberg and provided to Forbes by the Washington Service, an insider trading data provider.
Tsai will cash out about $263 million before taxes, based on Alibaba’s $87.55 share price as of midday Friday.
Forbes estimates Tsai’s stake in Alibaba to be worth $2.1 billion prior to this sale, comprising about a quarter of his net worth.
Morgan Stanley declined to comment on the matter, while Alibaba and Blue Pool capital did not immediately respond to Forbes’ inquiry.
Forbes Valuation
Tsai, best known in the U.S. as the owner of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, is worth $8.3 billion, according to our latest calculations. Forbes most recently valued the Nets at $3.5 billion, far past the $2.35 billion he bought the team for in 2019.
Key Background
A global pioneer in e-commerce, Alibaba’s $25 billion initial public offering in 2014 was the largest debut in history at the time. Alibaba’s market capitalization soared to as high as $821 billion in late 2020, but shares of the firm have since tanked more than 70% as the Chinese government targeted Alibaba with antitrust legislation and a $2.9 billion fine. And political headaches in the U.S. and China have continued to beleaguer Alibaba, with the company’s stock falling 13% the day after Chinese President Xi Jinping secured an unprecedented historic terms and an ongoing spat between Chinese and American regulators over New York-listed Chinese firms’ auditing practices led several of those companies to threaten to delist from American exchanges earlier this year.
Further Reading
Brooklyn Nets Owner Watches Warriors Win Title And Dreams Of Making $1 Billion (Forbes)
Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai is the face of NBA’s uneasy China relationship (ESPN)