Daily Journal Halves Its Investment in China’s Alibaba

Daily Journal Corporation, a publishing and software company chaired by Charlie Munger, said it has halved its investment worth $32.6 million in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, a regulatory filing showed on Monday.

Since the beginning of this year, the price of Alibaba‘s American depositary shares (ADS) has dropped by about 15% – 68% lower than its peak in October 2020. Daily Journal first disclosed its purchase of Alibaba‘s ADSs in the first quarter of 2021. At the end of the first quarter of 2021, Alibaba‘s ADSs were worth $226.73 each. At the end of the first quarter of 2022, the value of each ADS had dropped to $108.8.

After this reduction, Los Angeles-based Daily Journal Corporation owned 300,000 of Alibaba‘s ADSs as of March 31, down from 602,060 shares at the end of 2021.

As of March 31, 2022, most of the remainder of Daily Journal’s securities portfolio is in Bank of America Corp, Wells Fargo & Co., Alibaba and U.S. Bancorp.

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Munger has been chairman of the Daily Journal for 45 years since 1977, and according to a March regulatory filing, the 98-year-old billionaire will step down from the role but will remain on the board and “continue to pay special attention to matters he has been involved in in the past, including the company’s securities portfolio.” He also said he would donate $1 million of his shares in the company to develop an equity incentive plan.