By CHENG Lu
A filing released by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in which Alibaba founder Jack Ma planned to sell 5 million shares in the tech giant has aroused suspicion.
Since Alibaba said on November 16 that it was postponing the listing of grocery business Hema Fresh and the spin-off of cloud business Aliyun, Ma’s move was widely seen as a bearish move and Alibaba stock plunged 10 percent.
On Wednesday, Jane Jiang, a founding member of Alibaba and head of HR, said in an internal memo sent to all employees that Ma had not and would not sell short Alibaba shares.
According to Jiang, the unload was scheduled in August as a routine move. The stock broker has set a fixed selling price which is far higher than the current stock price, so Ma has not yet sold any shares.
The fact that Ma set a high selling point reflects his faith in the company, said Jiang.
That November 16 was the designated disclosure date of the plan was a coincidence since the broker didn’t know that it to be the day Alibaba would release its financial report, the key reason why the market raised its eyebrows.
Since 2016, Ma has sold Alibaba shares every year to invest in his charity projects including healthcare, education and the environment.
Regarding gossip that Alibaba is sacking 25,000 employees, Jiang said the company had reported the matter to the police and hopefully whoever started the rumor would pay the price.
