It is not clear how many shares did the 18 partners of Alibaba hold at that time. Perhaps only they themselves know. Even if someone tells you, can you believe it? Do your employees or others know how many shares your shareholders hold? Moreover, in 1999, the company's information was not made public, unlike now when it can be publicly queried.

We checked Alibaba's prospectus for listing in the United States in 2014, the prospectus for listing in Hong Kong in 2019, and the prospectus for Alibaba's B2B section for listing in Hong Kong in 2007. The information we saw is as follows:

1. Alibaba's shares were fully cleaned up when it received financing from Yahoo.

2. When it was listed in the United States in 2014, the management except Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai held less than 1% of the shares.

3. When it was listed in Hong Kong in 2019, the management except Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai held 0.9% of the shares.