According to Southern Metropolitan Daily reporters, the short distance freight platform Kuai Gou Taxi (HK: 02246) has recently encountered another reduction in its holdings by Alibaba, which sold 838400 shares at a price of HKD 0.5045 per share, reducing its stake in Kuai Gou Taxi to 8.89%. It is worth noting that this is the third time Alibaba has reduced its holdings in Kuaishou Taxi within a single month. As of the close on January 2nd, Kuai Gou Taxi was trading at HKD 0.57 per share, with a total market value of HKD 358 million.
(Hong Kong Stock Exchange documents)
Public information shows that Kuai Gou Taxi was established in 2014, formerly known as 58 Express. It was officially renamed "Kuai Gou Taxi" in August 2018 and was launched in 2022. Since its establishment, Kuai Gou Taxi has been continuously losing money, mainly due to the growth driven by a large amount of investment in the initial stage of the same city logistics business. Even after going public in 2022, it still failed to achieve profitability. From 2018 to 2022, the company's net losses were 1.0709 billion yuan, 183.8 million yuan, 658.2 million yuan, 873 million yuan, and 1.209 billion yuan, respectively, with a cumulative loss of nearly 4 billion yuan over the past five years. Currently, in addition to the persistent loss situation that needs to be reversed, Kuaishou Taxi is also facing competition and regulatory pressure from peers in the same city freight industry.
Before going public, 58 Daojia and 58 Tongcheng held a 50.51% controlling stake in Kuai Gou Taxi, making them the largest shareholders. Taobao China and Taobao Holdings hold a 12.92% stake in it, while Alibaba Group (including shares held by Taobao China, Cainiao, etc.) holds a 15.77% stake. Since then, Alibaba has repeatedly reduced its holdings.
In 2023, Kuai Gou Taxi was reduced in 8 rounds by various shareholders, including 58 Daojia, Taobao China and Taobao Holdings, Alibaba Group, former chairman and executive director Chen Xiaohua, and 58 Tongcheng founder and CEO Yao Jinbo, among other institutional and individual shareholders. According to documents from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, in December, Alibaba Group reduced its holdings in Kuai Gou Taxi three times, from 11.97% to 8.89%, respectively, on December 12th, December 15th, and December 22nd. The frequent reduction of holdings by shareholders is not only due to their own reasons, but also seen by the outside world as not optimistic about the performance of Fast Dog Taxi, believing that it lacks sustained investment value.
In December 2023, Kuai Gou Taxi announced that due to the need to handle other affairs, Chen Xiaohua resigned as Chairman and Executive Director from December 19, 2023. After resigning, he will no longer serve as a member of the company's nomination committee or any position in the group. The company secretary and legal representative Yu Yongshi also resigned together, and will resign from their positions starting from December 23, 2023. On the day before Alibaba reduced its holdings in Kuai Gou Taxi, the board of directors of Kuai Gou Taxi announced the appointment of Executive Director and Co CEO Lin Kaiyuan as Chairman, effective from December 20th, while continuing to serve as Co CEO.