(Yicai Global) July 13 -- Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group Holding, reduced his stake in the Chinese e-commerce giant by 22.5 percent in the last year to fall below 5 percent equity as of July 2, the Beijing Youth Daily reported today.

He remains the Hangzhou-based firm’s biggest individual shareholder with a 4.8 percent stake, down from 6.2 percent last year, the report said, citing a filing Alibaba [NYSE:BABA] made to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

No reasons were given for the dilution in his holdings, but several other major shareholders have also been shedding shares. Co-founder and Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai now holds 1.6 percent. Other management executives hold a total of 7.4 percent of the firm.

The biggest overall shareholder, Japanese conglomerate Softbank Group, has recently reduced its stake by 1 percentage point to 24.9 percent, according to the report.

Editor: Kim Taylor