Benzinga | Dec 29, 2021 05:55AM EST

Alibaba Looks To Divest Stake In Twitter Like China Counterpart Weibo

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is discussing possible stake sale in Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)-like social media Weibo Corp (NASDAQ:WB) with Shanghai Media Group, Bloomberg reports.

* SMG could acquire Alibaba's entire ~30% stake in Weibo. One of China's largest state-owned media and cultural conglomerates, SMG, is more likely to gain Beijing's approval than a private acquirer.

* Related Content: Read What Stifel Thinks Of Tencent's Stake Divestment In JD

* SMG is a controlling shareholder of Oriental Pearl Group Co, which operates television stations and online entertainment portals and owns 20% of Shanghai Disney Resort.

* Chinese internet pioneer Sina launched Weibo in 2009 was listed in the U.S. in a 2014 IPO. It had daily active users of about 248 million, compared to 211 million for Twitter.

* Weibo is among the most influential and controversial of Alibaba's media holdings.

* The social media site scrubbed posts and took down comments relating to an Alibaba partner's scandal in 2020. Since then, regulators have called for a ban on private capital participation in media.

* Price Action: BABA shares traded lower by 0.87% at $113.80 in the premarket session on the last check Wednesday.