(Yicai) May 31 -- Alibaba Group Holding has sold all of its 14.4 percent stake in Baozun, which bought Gap’s China business more than a year ago, further slimming its non-core assets portfolio.

Alibaba sold the 26.5 million shares to Champion Kerry, Shanghai-based Baozun said in a bourse filing yesterday. Baozun said it will continue working with Alibaba despite the stake sale.

The divestment is the latest for Alibaba, which has been offloading non-core assets to focus on its main e-commerce and cloud computing businesses. Already this year, the internet giant has sold shares in various firms, including video platform Bilibili and Hello Group, the parent of social media app Momo, after exiting Indian online retail platform Paytm Mall last year.

Last week, Alibaba’s top leadership said the Hangzhou-based company had “acquired ‘large company’ characteristics” over the 25 years of its existence, but would go on investing to grow its e-commerce and cloud businesses.

Baozun [HKG: 9991] closed 0.3 percent higher at HKD7.03 (90 US cents) a share in Hong Kong today. That would suggest Alibaba cashed out HKD186.3 million (USD23.8 million). Baozun’s US-listed stock [NASDAQ: BZUN] closed 2.2 percent up at USD2.78 yesterday.

Due to the shareholder change, Liu Yang will no longer be a director at Baozun. Liu, who works in Taobao and Tmall Group, Alibaba's e-commerce arm, joined Baozun's board in July 2021.

Alibaba is streamlining its operations in response to far tougher competition from rivals in online retailing and artificial intelligence, including relative newcomer Pinduoduo.

Net profit at Pinduoduo, which owns Temu, surpassed Alibaba’s in the first quarter of the year. Pinduoduo’s profit more than tripled to CNY28 billion (USD3.8 billion) from a year earlier, while Alibaba’s fell 11 percent to CNY24.4 billion under non-GAAP standards.

Shanghai-based Pinduoduo is even worth more than Alibaba on the New York Stock Exchange.

Baozun mainly offers technologies and marketing services to e-commerce vendors, and secured investment from Alibaba in 2010. In January last year, it expanded into offline retail, spending USD40 million for the China business of US clothing retailer Gap. That year, it also acquired 51 percent of the intellectual property rights for British outdoor brand Hunter Boot in China and Southeast Asia.

Baozun has been unprofitable for the past three years. But its first-quarter net loss fell 20 percent to CNY66.6 million (USD9.2 million) from a year ago on a 5 percent uptick in revenue to CNY2 billion (USD276.1 million), according to its latest financial report. 

Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares [HKG: 9988] fell 1.8 percent to end at HKD74.9 (USD10) apiece today. In New York yesterday, the firm [NYSE: BABA] finished 0.7 percent up at USD79.63.

Editor: Emmi Laine