(Yicai Global) March 22 -- Shares of Alibaba Group Holding surged in Hong Kong after the Chinese e-commerce giant said it will increase its share buyback plan to USD25 billion, increasing the figure for the second time in seven months.

Alibaba [HKG: 9988] finished 11.2 percent higher today at HKD110.20 (USD14.08). Its New York-listed stock [NYSE: BABA] fell 4.4 percent to USD103.59 yesterday, down nearly 70 percent from a peak of USD319.32 in November 2020.

Alibaba’s board has approved the increase, the Hangzhou-based firm said in a statement today. The program to repurchase its own shares will run through March 2024, it added.

The board authorized the buyback of USD10 billion of Alibaba’s American depositary shares in December 2020, and then expanded the plan to USD15 billion last August. The latest boost makes it the largest repurchase program by a US-listed Chinese business.

Buybacks remove some of a publicly traded company’s shares from the stock market, with the aim of shoring up the price. 

As of March 18, Alibaba had spent about USD9.2 billion buying back 56.2 million of its ADSs, equal to about 449.6 million ordinary shares, it said earlier.

Alibaba also announced today that it has appointed Shan Weijian, chairman of alternative asset management house PAG, as a new independent director, effective March 31. Börje Ekholm, president and chief executive of Ericsson, will leave the board on the same day, after having served as an independent director for almost seven years.

Editor: Futura Costaglione