Alibaba Plunge Slices $1.5 Bln From Jack Ma’s Fortune

A drop in the price of New York-traded shares in China e-commerce giant Alibaba Group on Friday sliced $1.5 billion from the estimated wealth of the company’s main founder Jack Ma.

Alibaba fell by 5.9% to $199.70 after the company said net profit the three months to March 31 plunged by 89% from a year earlier to $447 million. “The year-over-year decrease was primarily due to a net loss in investment income, mainly reflecting decreases in the market prices of our equity investments in publicly-traded companies, compared to a net gain recorded in the same quarter of 2019,” Alibaba said.

Stock markets globally have been hurt in connection with the Covid-19 global pandemic. Alibaba’s revenue increased by 22% during the period to $16.1 billion.  Click here for Alibaba’s press release.

The former English teacher is still worth $41.3 billion on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list today, making him the world’s 22^nd richest man and No. 2 in China after Tencent CEO Ma Huateng, whose fortune is estimated at $46.4 billion.

Ma stepped down as chairman of the Hangzhou, China-headquartered Alibaba last year to focus on philanthropy. He still holds a board seat.  He will leave the board of SoftBank Group on June 25, the Japanese investment and technology firm said this month. SoftBank was one of Alibaba’s earliest investors, and currently owns a quarter of the business.

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@rflannerychina