JANUARY ASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK8Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma and Chairman Joe Tsai purchased millions of shares in the Chinese e-commerce behemoth in the fourth quarter, the New York Times reported on January 23, sending the company's US-listed shares up approximately 7%. According to the report, Ma purchased US$50 million in Hong Kong-traded stock, citing a person familiar with the situation.Tsai also purchased approximately US$151 million in Alibaba's US-traded shares during the quarter as part of his Blue Pool Management family investment. The Jack Ma Foundation, which handles media inquiries for the Chinese billionaire, did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.Alibaba had said in November the family trust of Ma, who stepped down as executive chairman of Alibaba in 2019, was set to sell 10 million American Depository Shares of Alibaba Group Holdings for about US$871 million. Alibaba is in the middle of an overhaul. It scrapped plans to spin off its cloud business in November, citing uncertainties created by US export curbs on tech used in artificial intelligence applications.The spinoff was part of the company's plan to split its business into six main units covering e-commerce, media and the cloud. For long a dominant player in China's online shopping market, Alibaba has been facing competition from PDD Holdings' Pinduoduo. NEWSROOMJACK MA PURCHASES ALI BABA SHARES WORTH $50 MILLION IN Q4Indonesia recorded a total of 744 trillion rupiah ($47.34 billion) in foreign direct investment last year, an average annual increase of 13.7%, the Investment Ministry announced on January 24. However, the growth rate in the fourth quarter was prolonged at 5.3%. % compared to the previous quarter. The same period a year ago rose 16.2% in the third quarter. From October to December, total FDI reached 184.4 trillion rupees.Data on agencies' are reported in rupees, excluding investments in the financial and oil and gas sectors. East Asia and its largest economy have seen strong FDI growth since the pandemic, with significant nickel processing industry investments.The base metal industry received the biggest FDI last year at $11.8 billion, while mining was in fourth place with $4.7 billion. Other sectors that benefited from FDI included warehousing and telecommunications, and pharmaceutical and pulp and paper. Singapore, China and Hong Kong were the biggest FDI sources in 2023. INDONESIA RECORDS IDR 744T IN FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN 2023
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