Alibaba Group recently announced the launch of a major spin-off plan to spin off its six business groups into independent business companies to improve business efficiency and flexibility, while preparing for future independent listings. This major change has attracted widespread attention in the market and has also affected the hearts of Alibaba's shareholders. Among them, SoftBank Group, Alibaba's second largest shareholder, followed suit to announce that it held 2.8 billion shares of Xpeng Motors and cashed out about $34.5 billion, which triggered speculation and questions from the outside world.
SoftBank Group is an old friend of Alibaba and the second-largest shareholder of Xpeng Motors. SoftBank Group began investing in Alibaba in 2000 and has since held about 15% of Alibaba's shares, making it the largest external shareholder of Alibaba. SoftBank Group began investing in Xpeng Motors in 2018 and has since held about 12% of the shares of Xpeng Motors, making it the second largest shareholder of Xpeng Motors. SoftBank Group has significant influence over both Alibaba and Xpeng Motors, and has reaped handsome rewards from it.
However, the day after Alibaba announced the big spin-off, SoftBank Group announced plans to ** Xpeng Motors shares, which caused a shock in the market. SoftBank Group said this is to optimize its portfolio and improve its capital efficiency, while also supporting Xpeng's long-term growth and increasing its liquidity and shareholder diversity. SoftBank Group also said that it remains optimistic about the prospects of Xpeng Motors and will continue to maintain a good cooperative relationship with Xpeng Motors.
So, why did SoftBank Group sell its shares in Xpeng Motors at this time?Some analysts believe that this may be related to Alibaba's big spin-off plan. Alibaba's spin-off plan means that Alibaba's various business companies will likely go public independently in the future, which is a very attractive opportunity for Alibaba's shareholders. As Alibaba's second largest shareholder, SoftBank Group will certainly not let go of this opportunity, so it needs to prepare in advance and release a part of the capital to participate in the listing of Alibaba's various business companies in the future.
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On the other hand, Xpeng's recent performance has not been satisfactory. Xpeng Motors launched a new model G9 at the end of last year, but it was met with a cold reception from the market, with sales and stock prices falling sharply. Xpeng Motors is also facing multiple problems such as delivery delays, user complaints, and brand crises, and its competitiveness and profitability have been questioned. SoftBank Group may believe that the future risks of Xpeng Motors outweigh the benefits, so it has chosen to lock in some of the profits, and at the same time introduce more new shareholders to Xpeng Motors to increase its market vitality.
In short, SoftBank Group's ** Xpeng Motors shares are not only a response to Alibaba's large-scale spin-off plan, but also an assessment of the current situation of Xpeng Motors. This move by SoftBank Group is both a pressure and an opportunity for Xpeng Motors. Xpeng Motors needs to take this opportunity to accelerate its own reform and innovation, improve product quality and user experience, and rebuild its brand image and market confidence, so as to maintain its advantage in the fierce competition and win the future.