Alibaba Discloses More Chinese State Ownership in Business Units

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Alibaba’s corporate structure is highly complex and undergoing an overhaul as the company considers splitting off several tentpole business lines into standalone companies. Photo: Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. disclosed a wider web of Chinese government stakes in its business units than previously known, following an inquiry by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Hangzhou-based e-commerce pioneer said in filings in the U.S. and Hong Kong over the weekend that more than a dozen of its entities are partially owned by Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) or foreign sovereign wealth funds. In the notice, the company said the disclosures were made “in response to certain comments from the staff of the SEC” as an amendment to its earlier filing from July.