Alibaba CEO, chairman buy $15M in stock after record share sale

Alibaba ↘ 2.94% Chairman Joseph Tsai and CEO Eddie Wu purchased approximately HK$120 million ($15.3 million) worth of company shares on Monday, according to SEC filings, in a show of insider confidence after the Chinese tech giant's record $10.2 billion equity offering sent shares tumbling.

Insider Purchases Signal Confidence

Tsai acquired 720,000 ordinary shares at an average price of $14.29, putting his purchase at about $10.3 million, while Wu bought 350,000 shares at a weighted average price of $14.24 for roughly $5 million. Wu's shares were purchased in multiple transactions at prices ranging from HK$110.70 to HK$112.40, according to the filings. Following the purchases, Wu held 1.36 million shares directly, alongside holdings through his spouse and a trust.stocktwits+1

Alibaba's Hong Kong-listed shares fell 8.5% on Monday — the steepest single-day decline since early 2025 — after the company completed its HK$80 billion share placement. The U.S.-listed stock declined 0.7% during regular trading and fell an additional 2.4% in after-hours trading.bloomberg+1

Record Offering Funds AI Ambitions

The share sale, Hong Kong's largest follow-on offering, saw Alibaba sell 710 million shares at HK$112.70 each — a 3.6% discount to Friday's closing price of its U.S.-traded shares. Bloomberg reported that institutional demand reached nearly three times the offering size, driven by interest from sovereign wealth funds and global long-only investors.reuters+2

Alibaba said it would use 100% of the net proceeds to invest in "full-stack AI capabilities," including chips, infrastructure, and model development. The offering came days after the company reported a 75% plunge in quarterly earnings, underscoring how soaring AI capital expenditure is squeezing profits.breakingviews+1

Broader Context

The fundraising reflects a wider trend among major tech companies tapping equity markets to finance AI buildouts. Intel ↗ 4.36% and Alphabet ↘ 0.41% have recently raised billions through stock offerings for similar purposes. Bank of America reiterated a "Buy" rating and $172 price target on Alibaba, calling the transaction "a mix of growth financing, funding diversification, and pre-emptive balance-sheet strengthening". Year to date, BABA stock is down roughly 18.5%.stocktwits