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Recently, SoftBank Group announced that it would sell its Alibaba shares, completely withdraw from Alibaba, and cash out more than 200 billion yuan of Masayoshi Son bid farewell to Alibaba, we have witnessed the end of an era, but also ushered in a new chapter of "Made in China". Alibaba, an e-commerce giant that once grew up under the backdrop of foreign capital, is now beginning to show its unique charm and power to the world as "Made in China".
Masayoshi Son and Jack Ma: The parting of ways of the former golden partner
Masayoshi Son, the name is almost unknown to everyone in the investment world. With his unique vision and bold decisions, he built SoftBank Group into a world-renowned investment empire.
Jack Ma, an entrepreneur who once convened the "Eighteen Arhats" in Hangzhou's lakeside garden, has developed Alibaba into a global e-commerce leader with his vision and unremitting efforts.
The partnership began in 1999 when Mr. Son invested $20 million in Jack Ma's Alibaba, a decision that seemed like a big gamble at the time. However, it has also been said that investors basically have the genes of gamblers. It has to be said that Son's vision at that time was unique and vicious, and in 2004, Alibaba made a third round of financing, and SoftBank once again played an important role, contributing $60 million. The financing further strengthened SoftBank's position as a shareholder in Alibaba and helped Alibaba scale its business.
In 2005, SoftBank and Yahoo jointly invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Alibaba. The funds helped Alibaba establish important businesses such as Taobao and Alipay, and laid a solid foundation for its subsequent listing. Over time, the gamble proved Son's vision with a staggering rate of return.
In 2014, Alibaba went public on the New York Stock Exchange, one of the largest IPOs in the world at the time. As the largest shareholder, SoftBank holds a stake worth as much as $58 billion, a 2,900-fold increase. This listing is not only a milestone for Alibaba, but also a great success in SoftBank's investment history. Son has become a legend in the investment world.
Son's investment in Alibaba is not only a recognition of its business model, but also an accurate grasp of the potential of the Internet age. His investment decisions helped Alibaba gain a foothold in the competition with eBay and eventually become a leader in the e-commerce space.
However, one person cannot win all the time, and in 2016, SoftBank reduced its stake in Alibaba for the first time, cashing out more than $10 billion to raise funds to set up the Vision Fund. Since then, as SoftBank Group has failed in other investments, in 2019 and 2020, Son had to start reducing his stake in Alibaba to fill the funding gap. SoftBank has reduced its holdings several times, and its shareholding ratio has been declining.
By early 2024, SoftBank reduced its stake in Alibaba to less than 0.5% through forward contracts, marking a shift in Mr. Son's relationship with Alibaba. Currently, Jack Ma has replaced SoftBank as Alibaba's largest shareholder.
Alibaba's "Made in China" road
With the departure of Masayoshi Son, Alibaba began to integrate more deeply into the Chinese market, and its identity as "Made in China" gradually became prominent. Against the backdrop of a tightening regulatory environment at home and abroad and the deterioration of U.S.-China relations, Alibaba's localization strategy is particularly important.
Alibaba's success is not only a commercial success, but also a manifestation of China's Internet industry's ability to innovate independently. It not only provides a broad stage for small and medium-sized enterprises and individual entrepreneurs, but also promotes the expansion of "Made in China" to the global market.
In fact, it is not only Alibaba that has encountered the withdrawal of foreign capital, but also the exodus of foreign capital over the years, which is both a challenge and an opportunity for China's economy. On the one hand, it reflects certain shortcomings in China's business environment; On the other hand, it also indicates that China's economy is transforming from high-speed growth to high-quality development.
In this process, Alibaba and other companies will assume more responsibilities and lead the direction of China's economic transformation and upgrading. They no longer simply pursue price advantages, but pay more attention to the quality of products and services, and promote China's economic development in a more independent, balanced and sustainable direction.
Epilogue:
Alibaba's transformation is a microcosm of the development of China's Internet industry. It has grown from a foreign-controlled e-commerce company to a real representative of "Made in China", which is full of challenges and opportunities.
With the continuous upgrading of the domestic consumer market and the transformation and upgrading of China's economy, Alibaba and other companies will play a more important role. They will continue to promote the transformation of "Made in China" to the output of technology, models and concepts, and contribute to the high-quality development of China's economy.
In this process, every Chinese is closely related to Alibaba's growth. Alibaba's success is not only a commercial success, but also a reflection of China's innovative power. Let us look forward to Alibaba being able to continue to write a glorious chapter of "Made in China" in the future development.