Jack Ma set to resign from SoftBank's board of directors

SoftBank Group said on Monday that Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba Group, will step down from its board of directors after 13 years.

Ma’s resignation will become effective on 25 June, the date of SoftBank Group’s annual shareholders' meeting.

The company did not give a reason for the resignation, but over the past year, Ma has been pulling back from business roles to focus on philanthropy. He is also expected to step down from the board at Alibaba after he resigned as chairman.

SoftBank was one of Alibaba’s first major backers, investing a reported $20m in 2000, one year after the e-commerce company was founded.

Ma is the only person out of SoftBank Group’s current 11 directors who is leaving. The company also said it nominated three new board directors for election at the shareholders meeting.

As of a February 2020 SEC filing, it owned about 25.1% of Alibaba shares.