SoftBank Group says today that Jack Ma, co-founder of the Alibaba group, will leave his board of directors after being director for 13 years. Ma's resignation will take effect on June 25, the date of the SoftBank Group's annual shareholders' meeting.
The company did not give a reason for his resignation, but in the past year, Ma has retired from his business duties to focus on philanthropy. Last September, he resigned as president of Alibaba
Ma has a long business relationship with the President and CEO of the Softbank Group, Masayoshi Son. SoftBank was one of Alibaba's first large donors, investing $ 20 million in 2000, a year after the founding of the e-commerce company. A chair February 2020 SEC filing
, held approximately 25.1% of the shares of Alibaba. Its stake in Alibaba currently represents more than $ 100 billion, making it the most valuable investment of the SoftBank group.
Related Downloads:
The SoftBank Group announcements were made a few hours before the release of the first quarter results report. The company said last month that you are waiting his $ 100 billion Vision Fund to lose about $ 16.5 billion, mainly due to the near collapse of WeWork, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on other portfolio companies, including Uber and Oyo. It is also expected that posts annual operating loss of $ 12.5 billion.
To reduce debt and increase your cash reserves, SoftBank Group said in march who sells or monetizes $ 41 billion of its assets and buys $ 4.7 billion of its shares.
Ma is the only person among the 11 current directors of the SoftBank group to leave. The company also said it had appointed three new directors for election to the general meeting: the chief financial officer of SoftBank Group, Yoshimitsu Goto; Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Cadence Design Systems; and Professor Waseda Business School Yuko Kawamoto.