Alibaba preps employees for $40b windfall

(Agencies) Updated: 2014-06-05 08:07

Moving on

In its IPO prospectus, Alibaba acknowledged its concerns about employee shareholders coming into new-found wealth, and maybe wanting to move on.

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"It may be difficult for us to continue to retain and motivate these employees, and this wealth could affect their decisions about whether or not they remain with us," it said.

Over recent years, Alibaba executives have discussed with employees how the windfall gains could change their lives, warning them not to splash it all on "glitzy things", said people familiar with those discussions.

Former Chief Operating Officer Savio Kwan was one of the executives who took part in the talks, the people said, along with external speakers and academics brought in to talk about leadership, personal development and business goals.

"One thing Jack (Ma) and Savio did was from the early days prepare employees for the effects of having wealth," said Porter Erisman, a former Alibaba vice president and director of "Crocodile in the Yangtze," a documentary about Alibaba's first decade.

"I remember Savio giving a speech about what money means, and he encouraged people to think of money as something that offered more choices. Those choices don't have to be material goods," he added.

Alibaba declined to comment for this article.

How to spend it

As happened after Facebook Inc's (FB.O) IPO in 2012, the new Alibaba millionaires are seen driving up demand for luxury cars and apartments, giving a boost to the economy of China's eastern city of Hangzhou, where the company is based.

Facebook millionaires spent some of their cash booking a trip with a private space tourism company and on an exploration of ancient Mayan ruins in Central America, while some Google Inc (GOOGL.O) shareholders cashed in during the internet firm's IPO to travel around the world, start a documentary film business and open a health-conscious cafe, media reported at the time.

BMW dealerships in Hangzhou have fielded enquiries from Alibaba employees asking if they have models in orange, Reuters Insider television has reported.

But the Chinese government's austerity campaign is likely to keep a lid on too much ostentatious spending, and because the stock listing will be in the United States most of the money employees receive from eventual stake sales would likely be kept offshore rather than flow back to Alibaba's Chinese base.

"Check real estate in Vancouver, not so much Ferraris and real estate in China," said a person closely involved with the IPO who was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

Investment bankers and financial consultants predicted that much of the IPO windfall that does return to China would likely go into new technology ventures.

Hangzhou is in a part of China already known as a hotbed for entrepreneurship. As of last year, the city had more than 560 multi-millionaires and in a decade is expected to rival Los Angeles in the number of so-called ultra high net worth individuals, according to property consultant Knight Frank.

"There aren't many cases in China where a private company scales from an apartment to more than 20,000 people like that," said another person with direct knowledge of the IPO process. "More than anything, the impact might be in start-ups, with people coming out with money who have been through this and learned."