Billionaires: Ant IPO will make Alibaba's reclusive co-founder $5bn richer

In our fortnightly roundup, Lucy Peng owns the biggest individual stake in the FinTech after Jack Ma, while Pinterest founders double their wealth with stock surge

Lucy Peng helped set up Alibaba’s human-resources department, was Ant Group’s chief executive and is now executive chairwoman of Lazada Group, the Southeast Asian e-commerce platform. Photographer: MiShow more

Lucy Peng

Lucy Peng has been dubbed Alibaba Group Holding’s most influential woman.

The co-founder of the e-commerce giant rarely speaks in public and is little known outside of China, but over the past two decades, she’s played a key role guiding Jack Ma’s empire. Ms Peng, 47, helped set up Alibaba’s human resources department, was Ant Group’s chief executive and is now executive chairwoman of Lazada Group, the South-East Asian e-commerce platform.

The former finance teacher is also emerging as one of the wealthiest people within the Alibaba ecosystem and one of the richest women on the planet. Ms Peng holds a 1.7 per cent stake in Ant, the FinTech firm that’s set to raise $34.5 billion in a dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong that could take its valuation to $320bn. She’ll be worth about $5bn, based on the pricing of the initial public offering, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

"Jack famously considers women a key asset in his success; Lucy is the embodiment of that," said Duncan Clark, author of Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built and chairman of investment consulting firm BDA China. "That's why she's been deployed on new ventures at critical moments of the company's development. She's been very focused on the key behind-the-scenes work, especially on human resources and, as such, has earned and retained the trust of Jack."

Women represent almost 40 per cent of Alibaba Partnership members, the elite group that has the power to determine the management’s annual cash bonuses. Along with Ms Peng, six other female leaders are heading for billionaire status thanks to Ant’s record IPO, with a combined stake value of $14.5bn.

China has been the main engine for self-made female billionaires in recent years. Among the world’s 500 richest people, two-thirds of the 15 women who created their own fortunes are Chinese entrepreneurs, according to Bloomberg’s wealth index.

Ms Peng met Mr Ma through her husband when they worked together at China Pages, a Yellow Pages-like online directory Mr Ma set up before Alibaba.

Ms Peng served as chief people officer for most of her time at the e-commerce giant before taking the role of Alipay’s chief executive in 2010 to enhance the app’s payment process and user experience. The platform, owned by Ant, started in 2004 as an escrow service for buyers and sellers on Mr Ma’s shopping site Taobao.com as it competed with EBay for market share in China.

Now Ant is about to sell shares in the world’s largest IPO. Ms Peng, who owns the biggest individual Ant stake after Mr Ma, and Mr Ma himself aren’t the only ones winning big. At least 17 other people are becoming billionaires from the listing.

Paul Sciarra, Evan Sharp and Ben Silbermann

Pinterest co-founders Paul Sciarra, Evan Sharp and Ben Silbermann added $750 million to their collective fortunes last week after the company reported quarterly sales that beat analysts’ expectations.

Strong advertiser demand and a growing user base helped boost the scrapbooking company’s revenue by 58 per cent from a year earlier.

The share price jump means the three men are now worth a combined $5.8bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, more than double what it was three months ago.

San Francisco-based Pinterest is among the companies benefiting as consumers increasingly turn online for social engagement, entertainment and communication. The world’s wealthiest tech billionaires have become $409bn richer year-to-date, a bigger gain than those in any other industry, according to the Bloomberg index.

Founded in 2009, the image-sharing site now has more than 400 million monthly active users.

Chief executive Mr Silbermann has pocketed $115m this year selling Pinterest stock through a prearranged trading plan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. He currently holds 51 million shares valued at $3.2bn and received $46m in pay and stock awards in 2019, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Hasso Plattner

Hasso Plattner, chairman and co-founder of SAP, bought shares worth nearly $300m in the German software company after a once-in-a-generation price slide triggered when management dumped its profit targets.

The 76-year-old billionaire bought shares worth €248.5m ($294 million) at an average price of €101, according to a regulatory filing.

SAP shares slumped by 20 per cent after chief executive Christian Klein ditched his “ambition” for profit margins to expand steadily through 2023 and lowered the outlook for this year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The share slide erased $35bn from SAP’s market value and knocked the company off its perch as Europe’s most valuable technology company, where it was ousted by Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML.

Mr Plattner previously owned a 5.89 per cent stake in SAP, making him the company’s largest individual shareholder, according to Refinitiv data.

Elon Musk

Tesla’s Elon Musk collected the fourth tranche of his moonshot award last month, bringing his aggregate haul to $11.8bn.

The company recently surpassed the performance thresholds for market value and adjusted earnings before adjusted interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, according to a regulatory filing, unlocking yet another 8.44 million options for the billionaire chief executive.

Following a surge in Tesla’s stock, Mr Musk in May collected the first tranche of the massive options award he was granted in 2018. He received the second and third tranches in July and September, respectively.

Mr Musk’s complete compensation package – the largest corporate pay deal ever struck between a chief executive and a board of directors – includes about 101 million options, split into 12 tranches, that could yield Mr Musk more than $50bn if all goals are met, according to the electric car maker’s estimates. He’s allowed to exercise the options as they’re unlocked, but can’t sell any of the shares for five years.

Mr Musk’s fortune has more than quadrupled this year to exceed $100bn, the largest gain of anyone on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him the world’s fourth-richest person.