ALIBABA-GROUP-HOLDING
22.3.2022 01:02:08 CET | Business Wire | Press release
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA and HKEX: 9988, the “Company”) today announced that the Company’s board has authorized to upsize its share repurchase program to US$25 billion from US$15 billion (the “Share Repurchase Program”), in a sign of confidence about the Company’s continued growth in the future. The Company also announced that Weijian Shan, executive chairman of investment group PAG, was appointed as an independent director to the Company’s board.
The Share Repurchase Program will be effective for a two-year period through March 2024. As of March 18, 2022, the Company had purchased a total of 56.2 million American depositary shares under the previously announced share repurchase program, for a total consideration of approximately US$9.2 billion.
Shan’s appointment as an independent director will be effective March 31, 2022, and he will serve on the board’s audit committee. Börje Ekholm, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ericsson Group, will retire from the Company’s board on March 31, 2022. Ekholm has served as an independent director on the Company’s board since June 2015.
“We are truly grateful to Börje for his invaluable commitment and contributions to the Alibaba board over the past six years,” said Daniel Zhang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group. “Weijian is a trusted leader in the global financial industry who has been an active facilitator for greater understanding between Asia and the rest of the world throughout his extraordinary career. I believe Alibaba will benefit greatly from his deep knowledge across different industries and global perspective.”
“I have been deeply impressed with the growth and achievements of Alibaba, and with how it has positively changed the lives of so many consumers and businesses in China and elsewhere. It served about 1 billion consumers in China and 300 million around the world in 2021 alone. I feel honored to be invited by the board to serve as an independent director. I look forward to contributing the little I know to help the Company achieve its long-term goals,” said Shan.
“Alibaba is an incredible company and I continue to believe in its future. I wish Daniel and the leadership team every success as it remains focused on creating long-term value for its stakeholders. I have decided to step down from the board to devote more time to Ericsson’s business,” said Ekholm.
About Weijian Shan
Weijian Shan is the executive chairman and a founder of PAG – one of Asia’s leading independent alternative investment management groups with more than US$50 billion in capital under management by March 2022. He became PAG’s chairman and CEO and founded its private equity business in 2010. Between 1998 and 2010, he was a managing partner of the private equity firm Newbridge Capital (now known as TPG Asia) and a partner of TPG. Shan was a managing director of JP Morgan, where he was concurrently the chief representative for China between 1993 and 1998. He was an assistant professor of management at the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania between 1987 and 1993. He also worked at the World Bank in 1987 as a member of its Young Professionals Program.
Shan is a member of the International Advisory Council of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited. He served as an independent director of Singapore-listed Wilmar International Limited between 2018 and 2021.
Shan is an author and occasional commentator. His books include Money Games: The Inside Story of How American Dealmakers Saved Korea's Most Iconic Bank (Wiley, 2020) and Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America (Wiley, 2019), which are also available in Chinese and Japanese, in addition to English.
Shan holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.B.A. from the University of San Francisco. He graduated with a major in English from the Beijing Institute of Foreign Trade (currently the Beijing University of International Business and Economics).
About Alibaba Group
Alibaba Group’s mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. The Company aims to build the future infrastructure of commerce. It envisions that its customers will meet, work and live at Alibaba, and that it will be a good company that lasts for 102 years.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220321005909/en/
Link:
Social Media:
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Vertex Presents New Data on ALYFTREK® at European Cystic Fibrosis Conference5.6.2026 18:00:00 CEST | Press release
- ALYFTREK Phase 3 data on children with cystic fibrosis ages 2 to 5 with vanzacaftor/tezacaftor/deutivacaftor-responsive genotypes including F/F and F/MF shows 65% reached sweat chloride levels of <30 mmol/L; Vertex on track to initiate global regulatory submissions in first half of 2026 - - Long-term 96-week interim analyses from two open-label extension studies demonstrate positive safety and efficacy profile of ALYFTREK in people with cystic fibrosis ages 6 and older -- Phase 3 data on TRIKAFTA® in children 1 to <2 years also presented; Vertex has initiated global regulatory submissions - Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) today announced data demonstrating the potentially transformative impact of treating cystic fibrosis (CF) with ALYFTREK ® (vanzacaftor/tezacaftor/deutivacaftor) in children ages 2 to 5, as well as data from 96-week interim analyses of two open-label extension studies of ALYFTREK in children 6 to 11 years and people 12 years and older demonstrating
Owkin to Build AI Agents as Part of a Multi-Year K Pro Collaboration with Sanofi5.6.2026 13:00:00 CEST | Press release
Owkin, the agentic AI company pioneering Biological Artificial Superintelligence to transform drug discovery and development, today announced a multi-year collaboration with Sanofi to co-develop next-generation biopharma agents, to be backed by a five-year license for K Pro, Owkin’s AI Scientist. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260605704506/en/ K Pro, Owkin's AI scientist for biology, powered by multimodal patient data for smarter biopharma decision making. Owkin and Sanofi have collaborated since 2021 through a €90 million strategic partnership focused on target identification in oncology and patient subgrouping. The collaboration was later expanded to include drug positioning for Sanofi’s immunology pipeline. This new collaboration represents the next evolution in the partnership. During the five-year collaboration, Owkin will lead the end-to-end development of novel AI-driven biopharma agents purpose-built
DFNS Rebrands as the Core Banking Platform for Digital Assets5.6.2026 12:41:00 CEST | Press release
DFNS today announced a rebrand, marking its evolution from a wallet infrastructure to the first core banking platform for digital assets. The company is introducing a new logo, website, and market position as fintechs and institutions move their products and operations onchain. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260603859127/en/ Banks, fintechs, asset managers, trading firms, payment providers, market infrastructures, and clearing houses have stopped asking how to "add crypto." They're asking how to run financial products, controls, workflows, and client services on blockchain rails, with the reliability expected of core infrastructure. Some are going further still, exploring whether the blockchain can serve as the ledger itself, where an account is an onchain object rather than a row in a database. Where IBANs, virtual accounts, and blockchain wallets converge into one governed financial account. “DFNS was built
Compass Pathways Announces New Employee Inducement Grants Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)5.6.2026 12:30:00 CEST | Press release
Compass Pathways plc (Nasdaq: CMPS), a biotechnology company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health, announced today that Compass granted equity awards under the Compass Pathways plc 2026 Inducement Plan to seventeen newly hired non-executive employees. The equity awards were granted on June 1, 2026 and consisted of options to purchase an aggregate of 157,000 shares and restricted share units or, in the case of employees in the United Kingdom nominal cost options, covering an aggregate of 74,700 shares. The options have an exercise price per share equal to $14.19, the closing price of the Company’s American Depositary Shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on the grant date, and will vest over a four-year period with 25% vesting on the first anniversary of the date of the grant and the remaining 75% vesting in equal monthly installments over the three-year period thereafter, subject to each employee’s continued employment. The restrict
Renewable Electricity, Soft Wheat Flour From Regenerative Agriculture, Initiatives to Support Local Communities: Barilla Shares These and Other Projects in “Stories of Sustainability.”5.6.2026 10:00:00 CEST | Press release
Barilla continues to advance its commitment to tastier products with less sugar and salt;An investment of 30 million euros in 2025 to quadruple photovoltaic capacity across plants, as part of a €168 million five-year plan focused on energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable water management.Barilla continues to expand regenerative agriculture practices across its global value chain, with over 816,000 tons of raw materials sourced through the Barilla Sustainable Farming program.4,000 tons of products donated worldwide and €2 million allocated to social causes in 2025, supporting communities across Barilla’s global footprint through food donations and social initiatives. A slimmer Tagliatelle pack that saves 150 tons of cardboard and cuts transport-related CO₂ emissions by 20%1; ready-made sauce jars made with around 65% recycled glass; the progressive scaling of regenerative agriculture practices across Barilla’s value chain and initiatives supporting inclusion and equal oppor
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom