Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba will split into six separate companies. This should better reflect the value of the conglomerate.
In recent years, the value of Alibaba collapsed after the Chinese government warned the big internet companies. It started with preventing the payment branch Alipay from going public. Alibaba hopes to give the six companies more opportunities through the split to grow and still create value for investors. For the Belgian shareholder, this threatens to become a cold shower. According to the website of The time the Belgian tax authorities generally consider a division as a dividend subject to withholding tax. The Belgian government imposes a 30 percent tax on dividend income. The problem with Alibaba is that in fact there is no benefit. For many investors, the only choice is likely to be to sell the shares. Because the share price has dropped considerably in recent years, this promises to be a loss item. Alibaba’s share price had a top day on Tuesday, investors thought the announcement of the split was good news. They also see it as proof that the Chinese government is once again giving internet companies a little more leeway. Significantly, founder Jack Ma showed up for the first time in years.
