Crackdown-hit Alibaba to divest 5% stake in Chinese broadcaster
Reuters
Published Sep 24, 2021 01:05AM ET
Updated Sep 24, 2021 01:20AM ET
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - An investment arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group Holding Ltd, targeted in a regulatory crackdown, will divest its entire stake of 5.01% in broadcaster Mango Excellent Media Co Ltd, the media firm said.
The sale comes less than a year after the investment in December last year, as Chinese authorities mount an anti-trust crackdown on large tech companies.
One major target has been Alibaba, which faced a fine of $2.75 billion over anti-competitive practices.
In Thursday's filing to the stock exchange, the media company said Alibaba's investment arm would seek a waiver from a one-year lockup to which it committed at the time of its investment.
Since then, shares of Mango Excellent Media have fallen roughly 40%. The firm, based in China's western province of Hunan, produces Internet and television content besides running a shopping division.
Alibaba did not respond to a request for comment.
Alibaba's stock price has fallen by nearly half since last October, when authorities abruptly halted plans for its financial affiliate, Ant Group, to go public.
Mango Excellent Media is one of several media-related investments funded by Alibaba, which is a major shareholder in Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) Corp, China's social media equivalent of Twitter (NYSE:TWTR).
It also wholly owns the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong's top English-language newspaper.
In July Reuters reported that Weibo was in talks to go private with the help of a Shanghai-based state-owned company, in an effort to help Alibaba divest. After the report, the firm's chairman, Charles Chao, said he had no such discussions.
In addition to Weibo, Alibaba owns stakes in some small Chinese online media and has its own filmaking division, Alibaba Pictures.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.