Russian Billionaire Dumps Apple, Facebook for Alibaba

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By Trey Thoelcke Updated Published

Alibaba HQ

Billionaire Alisher Usmanov reportedly has sold shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) to focus on Alibaba and other tech investments in China.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index pegs Usmanov as Russia’s richest man, who got his start in the iron ore business and built his empire by acquisitions. Last year he bought a stake of about $100 million in Apple last year, but sold it recently. And he had been gradually reducing his stake in Facebook, first acquired in 2009.

Though it has been in the works for year, Alibaba is expected to file for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States as soon as next month. Alibaba is China’s largest e-commerce site and has been compared to both Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY). It topped our list of the top 10 IPOs for this year. The company may be valued at $120 billion. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) has a 24% stake in Alibaba.

Chinese online retailer JD.com, which Usmanov is also interest in may file for an IPO next quarter and be valued at more than $20 billion.

Besides China, Russia’s largest trading partner, Usmanov reportedly also may expand his stakes in Russian assets. Stocks of Russian companies traded in the United States got off to a strong start Tuesday, in what we called the Vladimir Putin Rally. And the Market Vectors Russia ETF (NYSEMKT: RSX) was up nearly 3% in early trading.

Photo of Trey Thoelcke
About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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