Reuters reports that SoftBank Group is likely to trim its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
The report quotes Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal who wrote that SoftBank “will need to sell more” of its stake in Alibaba “in 2022”.
SoftBank, a Japanese tech conglomerate, invests in unlisted startups through its second Vision Fund and repurchases its shares.
SoftBank sold 20 million Alibaba shares in the last quarter.
According to Goyal’s estimates, SoftBank will need $40 billion to 45 billion of cash this year if it maintains the current pace of investing in startups and share repurchases as part of the 1 trillion yen programme announced in November.
Earlier this month, SoftBank CEO, Masayoshi Son, hinted that the conglomerate “will definitely be selling a good chunk of assets”.
