Alibaba's Jack Ma cashes in some stock for family, charity

Charity begins at home, but as far as Alibaba founder Jack Ma is concerned it will spread into the wider community. Ma has raised US$34.8 million by selling off a portion of his stock in Alibaba, the first time he has sought to cash in on the company’s successful Hong Kong listing in 2007. Besides treating his family, Ma will use the money to make some charitable donations – and if a recent report on unemployment by the China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is to be believed, there will be no shortage of takers. CASS estimates that up to 41 million people in China lost their jobs due to the global economic downturn and 23 million remain out of work. The figure is well in excess of the most recent government projection of 16.5 million redundancies. From workers with livelihoods as secure as exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer’s China real estate portfolio, we move on to the renminbi, which Beijing is keen to make as internationally robust as Donald Trump. The latest step in the Chinese currency’s globalization strategy is the issuing of renminbi-denominated sovereign bonds to foreign investors. A somewhat conservative US$879 million in bonds will be put on the market in Hong Kong at the end of the month. China Investment Corp (CIC), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, might also have Donald Trump in its sights: The fund is considering investments in US real estate. This includes participating in the Treasury Department’s program to rescue troubled or toxic mortgages. “Bailed out by China” porch signs coming your way soon.