By Kimberley Kao and Jiahui Huang


Alibaba Group shares rose on news that co-founders Jack Ma and Joe Tsai bought about $200 million of the company's stock in the latest quarter, giving the Chinese technology giant some welcome relief amid a monthslong slide.

Alibaba closed 7.3% higher on Wednesday, outpacing the 4.2% gain in Hong Kong's tech index and giving the company its biggest one-day percentage rise in 10 months. U.S. ADRs rose 7.85% overnight.

Tsai, Alibaba's chairman and owner of the Brooklyn Nets, bought $151.7 million of U.S.-listed ADRs in the fourth quarter via his family investment vehicle Blue Pool, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed Tuesday.

Separately, Ma, Alibaba's billionaire former chairman, purchased about $50 million of Hong Kong-listed shares during the quarter, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The purchases aren't large relative to Alibaba's market capitalization of more than $175 billion. But the backing could buoy sentiment around a stock that is still down almost 38% over the past 12 months.

The increase in co-founders' shareholdings sends "a positive signal to the market that they are confident on the company's outlook and share price," said Tam Tsz-Wang, equity research analyst at DBS Bank in Hong Kong.

Ma stepped down from Alibaba as chairman in 2019, but he remains a major shareholder.


Write to Kimberley Kao at kimberley.kao@wsj.com and Jiahui Huang at jiahui.huang@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-24-24 0625ET