Alibaba reduced its Momo stock holdings for the third time, leaving only 14%

On March 23, Alibaba again reduced its holdings of 9 million shares of Momo American Depositary Receipts (ADS) at a price of US$32.05 per share. This is the third consecutive time that Alibaba has reduced its shares in Momo since August 2016 after Momo announced the withdrawal of its privatization offer.

Original title: Ali reduced its shareholding in Momo from 20.2% to 14%

. On March 28, according to Momo's latest regulatory documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Alibaba again reduced its holdings on March 23 by 9 million shares of Momo American Depositary Receipts (ADS) at a price of US$32.05 per share. This is the third consecutive time that Alibaba has reduced its shares in Momo since August 2016 after Momo announced the withdrawal of its privatization offer.

Alibaba currently holds 40.86914 million Class A common shares, and its shareholding ratio has dropped from 20.2% on March 9 to 14%. The current voting rights held in Momo are 3.2%. Alibaba reduced its holdings of 3.71 million ADS shares in Momo at a price of US$29.1 per share on March 9. Previously, Ali's investment in Momo was regarded by the industry as a strategic layout to make up for social shortcomings. Nowadays, Momo has begun to transform into a social pan-entertainment platform.

Momo's previously released financial report showed that net profit for the fourth quarter of 2016 was US$91.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 674%. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the live broadcast business generated revenue of US$194.8 million, a month-on-month increase of 79%, and accounted for 79% of total revenue for the quarter. Tang Yan, chairman of Momo, said at the beginning of the year that "this (investment) is a profitable business first," so it is extremely normal for investors to cash out part of it. When talking about Ali's investment in Momo back then, Tang Yan's current view is that it is difficult to define whether it is a financial investment or a strategic investment, but Tang Yan admitted that there has been not much strategic cooperation between Ali and Momo in the past few years.

Editor: Nancy