Chinese e-commerce firm Suning.Com sells $1.5 billion of Alibaba shares

Chinese e-commerce company Suning.Com Co Ltd has sold $1.5 billion worth of shares in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, cutting its stake in the tech giant to 0.51 percent.

Suning.Com is expected to make a net profit of about 5.6 billion yuan ($872.3 million) from the sale, it said in a filing with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

Suning.Com did not specify how many Alibaba shares it had sold or what price it achieved.

In May, the Nanjing-based company said it planned to sell up to 7.66 million shares in Alibaba Group, equivalent to a 0.3 percent stake. The plan was then approved at Suning.Com’s 2017 annual shareholders’ meeting.

Gains from the share sale will be used in areas such as product development and business expansion, Suning.Com said.

Alibaba Group also has a 19.99 percent stake in Suning.Com, according to the filing.