The current stock price is below its fair value
In the long arc of Alibaba's turbulent relationship with markets and regulators, Jack Ma's office stepped forward this week to offer reassurance — insisting that a planned $871 million share sale by his family trust reflects calendar, not conviction. The declaration arrived against a backdrop of compounding pressures: a shelved cloud IPO forced by U.S. chip restrictions and a 10 percent single-day collapse in Hong Kong shares. Whether the market reads such moments as tests of faith or confirmations of doubt depends, as always, on which story one chooses to believe.
- A regulatory filing revealed Ma's family trust would sell 10 million ADSs worth roughly $871 million on November 21, sending an immediate signal of alarm through investor circles.
- The sell-off accelerated when Alibaba simultaneously abandoned plans to separately list its cloud division, a retreat forced by tightening U.S. semiconductor export restrictions targeting China.
- Hong Kong-listed Alibaba shares shed nearly 10 percent in a single session — a sharp, visible expression of market anxiety about the company's near-term direction.
- Ma's office moved quickly to reframe the sale as a pre-planned, calendar-driven divestment adopted in August, not a reactive loss of faith in the company.
- The founder's representatives went further, asserting that Alibaba's stock currently trades below its fair value — positioning the dip as opportunity rather than omen.
Jack Ma's office issued a statement Friday declaring the Alibaba co-founder remains deeply confident in the company and intends to hold the bulk of his shares — a message timed carefully to arrive one day after regulators disclosed his family trust's plan to sell 10 million American Depository Shares, valued at approximately $871 million and set to close November 21.
Ma's representatives were quick to contextualize the sale. The divestment, they explained, was not a sudden change of heart but the execution of a strategy formally adopted in August — a pre-scheduled unwinding of a partial position, not a flight from the company. No shares had yet changed hands. The office added a pointed note: in their view, Alibaba's current stock price sits below the company's actual worth.
The market was less easily reassured. Alibaba's Hong Kong shares fell nearly 10 percent on Friday, a drop compounded by a separate disclosure the day prior — that the company was scrapping plans to independently list its cloud computing division, a decision driven by escalating U.S. restrictions on semiconductor exports to China. The convergence of insider selling and a shelved strategic initiative created a moment of concentrated doubt.
Ma has not held the chairman's title since 2019, yet through his family trust he remains among Alibaba's largest shareholders, and his words still shape how markets interpret the company's trajectory. His office's statement was plainly designed to arrest any inference of diminished faith. Alibaba itself declined to comment, leaving investors to weigh the founder's stated optimism against the concrete realities: a major initiative abandoned, shares sold into weakness, and a stock that lost a tenth of its value in a single day.
Jack Ma's office released a statement on Friday asserting that the Alibaba co-founder remains deeply confident in the company's future and intends to keep his shareholdings intact. The timing of this declaration was deliberate: it came just one day after regulators disclosed that Ma's family trust would be offloading 10 million American Depository Shares, a transaction valued at approximately $871 million and scheduled to close on November 21.
The sale itself, Ma's representatives explained, was not a sudden reversal of faith. Instead, it represented the execution of a long-planned divestment strategy that the family trust had formally adopted back in August. According to the statement relayed through the South China Morning Post, no shares had actually changed hands yet—this was merely the predetermined unwinding of a partial position that had been locked into the calendar months earlier. The office added a pointed observation: the current stock price, in their assessment, sat below what the company was actually worth.
The market, however, read the news differently. On Friday, Alibaba's Hong Kong-listed shares fell nearly 10 percent. This decline was not driven by the share sale announcement alone. The previous day, the company had disclosed that it was abandoning plans to list its cloud computing division separately, a decision forced by tightening U.S. restrictions on semiconductor exports to China. The combination of these two developments—the insider selling and the shelved IPO—created a moment of visible doubt about the company's near-term trajectory.
Ma himself has not held the title of chairman since 2019, when he stepped back from day-to-day operations. Yet through his family trust, he remains one of Alibaba's largest shareholders, and his voice still carries weight in how the market interprets the company's direction. The statement from his office was clearly designed to counter any inference that the share sale signaled a loss of confidence. We believe the current stock price is below its fair value, the office said—a direct assertion that insiders saw opportunity in the dip, not reason to flee.
Alibaba itself declined to comment further when contacted by Reuters. The company's silence stood in contrast to the clarity Ma's office had provided, leaving investors to weigh the founder's stated optimism against the concrete decisions unfolding: a major strategic initiative shelved, shares being sold into a weakened market, and a stock price that had just dropped a tenth of its value in a single session.
Notable Quotes
Very positive about the company and will continue to hold shares— Jack Ma's office, via South China Morning Post
The current stock price is below its fair value— Jack Ma's office
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would Ma's office bother releasing a statement about his confidence if the share sale was truly just a mechanical execution of an old plan?
Because the optics matter enormously. When an insider sells shares and your company simultaneously cancels a major IPO, the market reads that as a loss of nerve. The statement is damage control—a way of saying the sale is not a vote of no-confidence.
But doesn't the sale itself contradict the confidence? If he really believed in the stock, why sell at all?
That's the tension at the heart of it. The office argues this was decided in August, before the cloud IPO was shelved. But to a skeptical investor, it looks like he's reducing exposure right when things got harder.
What does "below its fair value" actually mean in this context?
It's an assertion that the market is overreacting—that the stock has been punished too severely. It's Ma's way of saying: I'm not panicking, and neither should you. But it's also a statement that can only be proven right or wrong over time.
Does the fact that the South China Morning Post is owned by Alibaba change how we should read this story?
It absolutely does. The statement came through a publication Alibaba controls, which means the message was carefully shaped and delivered through a friendly channel. That's not necessarily dishonest, but it's worth noting the architecture of how the confidence was communicated.
What happens next?
The sale closes on November 21. After that, we'll watch whether the stock stabilizes, whether other insiders follow Ma's lead in selling or buying, and whether the company can articulate a credible strategy around the cloud unit. The real test of Ma's confidence will be what happens in the months ahead.