Japan's mobile telecommunications behemoth SoftBank Group Corp. will sell a long-held investment worth 7.9 billion U.S. dollars in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group to enhance its fiscal¹ situation, local media said Wednesday.

 

日本当地媒体周三报道，移动通信大鳄软银集团将销售其长期持有的中国电商巨头阿里巴巴集团的股份用于缓解财政困难，其持有的股份价值79亿美元。

 

SoftBank said it will continue to keep 28 percent from its 32.2 percent stake in Alibaba, which at market rates is currently worth around 50 billion U.S. dollars, and will sell its stock to interested parties to raise capital, with the transactions expected to take place relatively² soon and possibly within a few weeks.

 

After the stock sale however, SoftBank, controlled by billionaire Masayoshi Son, will still be the largest shareholder³ of the Chinese e-commerce juggernaut and sources from both parties stated that Son and Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack⁴ Ma will both continue to serve as board members of each others' firms

 

SoftBank said that its decision to sell its shares in Alibaba had nothing to do with a recent accounting⁵ probe into Alibaba by the U.S. authorities and said that the move was purely⁶ driven by its plans for capital restructuring and moves toward deleveraging its position and bolstering⁷ investor⁸ sentiment.

 

In 2013, SoftBank bought a major stake in Sprint⁹, a U.S. telecommunications holding company that provides wireless¹⁰ services and is a major global internet carrier, for 21.6 billion U.S. dollars.

点击收听单词发音