Alibaba Group (US stock ticker symbol: BABA) is one of the most influential Internet tech giants in China. It is registered in the Cayman Islands and has been listed in the United States. Many people think that Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, is the biggest shareholder of Alibaba, but that’s not the case.
So who is Alibaba’s largest shareholder exactly? According to Alibaba’s latest annual earnings report in 2018 (see reference link (1) ), the largest shareholder of Alibaba is SoftBank of Japan. SoftBank holds 28.8% of Alibaba’s shares, and that means 746,998,571 shares. The second largest shareholder is Altaba (formerly Yahoo!), with a 14.8% stake. Ma Yun, founder and chairman of Alibaba’s board, holds 6.4% of the company’s shares.
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