SoftBank Prepares to Cash In on Long-Held Alibaba Stake

(Bloomberg) — SoftBank Group Corp. is moving to sell more of its stake in Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., unwinding the bet that spurred the Japanese company’s ambition to invest billions of dollars in startups.

SoftBank offloaded around $7.3 billion of Alibaba shares this year through prepaid forward contracts, according to a Bloomberg analysis of regulatory filings. That follows the company’s sale of shares through similar contracts last year, which lowered its stake to 13.7% at year-end. The contracts include the option to either hand over the stock or pay in cash and keep the shares.