Alibaba’s Chairman Jack Ma Buys $193 Million Property In Hong Kong Despite Alibaba’s Slowing Growth

Jack Ma, founder and chairman of Alibaba, has apparently purchased a luxury property in Hong Kong worth $193 million, despite the company’s slowing growth. The 70-year-old three-story house is 9,900 square feet, in the exclusive Victoria Peak district at 22 Barker Road. Its sale earlier this week makes it the second most-expensive home in the world per square foot, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported, at $19,500 per saleable square foot.

The mansion reportedly boasts a 270-degree view of the Victoria Harbor as well as an 1,858-square-meter (nearly 20,000-square-foot) private garden and was bought from telecommunications businessman Francis Yu. Its price per square foot is second only to Antilia in Mumbai, owned by Indian multibillionaire Mukesh Ambani and worth $1 billion ($25,000 per square foot).

Alibaba, which is a giant Chinese e-commerce company, reported Wednesday it narrowly beat expectations on its quarterly earnings, despite a slowdown in growth.

Forbes said Alibaba’s stock dropped to the lowest since its IPO last September when its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange was a record-breaking $25 billion. After its poor earnings in the past quarter, Alibaba said it plans to spend $4 billion on stock buybacks over two years.

With this property purchase, it appears Ma isn’t worried about the Chinese stock market’s struggle, its impact on the company or Alibaba’s slow growth. Or it could just come down to Ma’s estimated personal net worth of $22.7 billion.

Ma clocked in at No. 7 on Forbes’ “Richest in Tech” list for 2015, and No. 1 on its “China Rich List” for 2014.

Forbes said Ma also paid $23 million in May for a 28,100-acre property in the Adirondacks, in upstate New York. Variety reported Ma spent $36.5 million on another property in Hong Kong’s Branksome Crest in 2007.

The People’s Bank of China devalued the yuan twice last week, prompting speculation China’s economy is doing worse than was publicly anticipated.