Alibaba Stock Rises as SoftBank Eyes an Exit. China Tech Sees the End of an Era.

Alibaba

stock rose Thursday following a report that technology investment group SoftBank moved to sell down most of its remaining stake in the company, in which it was an early investor. It’s yet another sign of a changing of the guard in Chinese tech.

SoftBank

(ticker: 9984.Japan) has sold about $7.2 billion worth of

Alibaba

(BABA) shares this year through prepaid forward contracts, the Financial Times reported, citing an analysis of regulatory filings. The sales will eventually reduce SoftBank’s stake in Alibaba—which stood at around 25% at the beginning of last year—to less than 4%, the report said, following on from a record $29 billion sale last year.