US publishing company Daily Journal halves Alibaba stake

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US publishing and software company Daily Journal has halved its investment in Alibaba Group. In a filing, the company, based in Los Angeles and overseen by Charlie Munger, said it owned only 300,000 of Alibaba's American depositary shares (ADS) worth US$32.6 million as of March 31. It was down from 602,060 shares at the end of 2021.

The reason for Daily Journal reducing its shares in the company was unknown. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Daily Journal for more details.

Daily Journal said it provides California attorneys with the news and information they need. Its reporters throughout California offer updated news about the courts, regulatory changes, state bar and legal community. It was led by Munger for 45 years before he stepped down as chairman in March 2022. After that, he remained a director in the company.

Alibaba has been facing difficulties imposed by both the Chinese and US governments. ECommerce sites under Alibaba Group, Tencent's WeChat, as well as Shopee, Bukalapak and Tokopedia had been listed on the 2021 Notorious Markets List by the US government. In total, the list identified 42 online markets and 35 physical markets that were reported to engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy. The goal of the list is to motivate appropriate action by the private sector and governments to reduce piracy and counterfeiting.

AliExpress and WeChat made the list for the first time, and the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said these were two significant China-based online markets that reportedly facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting. Meanwhile, Baidu Wangpan, DHGate, Pinduoduo, Taobao, Shopee, Bukalapak, and Tokopedia continue to be listed.

Also, the most notable case about Alibaba was the US$2.8 billion antitrust fine recently imposed by China's State Administration for Market Regulation last year. The regulator said in a statement that since 2015, the Group "has abused its dominant position in the market" and imposed a "Choose one out of two" requirement for its merchants. It also claimed that this has prohibited Alibaba's merchants from opening stores or participating in promotional activities on other rival platforms.

The investigation, which began in December 2020, concluded that Alibaba's "choice of two" behaviour "eliminates and restricts competition" in China's eCommerce market and "hinders the free circulation of commodity services and resource elements", the State Administration for Market Regulation said. It added that this also "affects the innovation and development of the platform economy".

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