Billionaires using own money to buy back Alibaba shares

Billionaires Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai are using their own money to buy back Alibaba Group Holding shares as the company prepares to repurchase as much as $4bn (€3.6bn) of its own stock.









The founders of China's largest e-commerce company will participate in the buyback as affiliates, according to a regulatory filing. The filing didn't disclose how much Ma, pictured, and Tsai will spend. Alibaba is trying to revive a share price battered by concerns about the slowdown in the Chinese economy less than a year after going public. Revenue at the internet company rose 28pc, the slowest pace in at least three years, to 20.2 billion yuan (€2.8bn) in the last quarter.



Ma and Tsai have seen their personal wealth eroded by the share price plunge. Ma is currently worth around $31.5bn. (Bloomberg)