Alibaba’s top executives buy US$15m in shares in vote of confidence after AI fundraising
The personal investments from Joe Tsai and Eddie Wu follow firm’s 710 million share sale, one of China’s largest AI fundraising efforts
The top two executives at Alibaba Group Holding bought a combined HK$120 million (US$15.3 million) worth of the company’s ordinary shares on Monday in a vote of confidence after the tech giant unveiled one of China’s biggest fundraising rounds dedicated to AI.
The share placement, the first since Alibaba’s listing in Hong Kong in 2019, was oversubscribed three times amid strong investor sentiment, according to people familiar with the situation, reflecting what analysts said was “stronger growth visibility” at the company.
Group chairman Joe Tsai paid roughly HK$80 million for 720,000 shares, while CEO Eddie Wu Yongming bought 350,000 units for around HK$40 million, according to Hong Kong stock market filings on Monday afternoon.
The personal investments, done via the purchase of ordinary shares from the stock market, were separate from Alibaba’s share issuance plan.
The 710 million newly issued shares represented around 3.7 per cent of the company’s 19.17 billion total outstanding shares, according to its stock exchange filing Monday morning. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
The order book exceeded the US$10 billion target shortly after launch, attracting US$28 billion in demand, according to the sources.