Shares in Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) fell 2% after Japanese investment giant SoftBank sold almost all of its remaining shares.
The shares have rebounded so far this year after falling to seven-year lows in the autumn, helped by improving results and supported by the unwinding of Chinese Covid lockdowns.
SoftBank has offloaded over US$7bn of shares in the Hangzou behemoth so far in 2023 through prepaid forward contracts, according to an analysis by the Financial Times, on top of a US$29bn selldown last year.
Once the sales are complete, the stake will be slashed to under 4%, having at its highest been close to owning a quarter of the company.
Alibaba two weeks ago announced plans to split into six separate units, which boss Daniel Zhang could pave the way for each of them to be spun off via individual IPOs in future.