Shares of Zulily are soaring Monday morning after Chinese e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba disclosed a 9.3 percent stake in the company.
Zulily, which sells an assortment of clothing, accessories and toys for kids and moms, saw its shares jump more than 13 percent in heavy trading. The stock is now trading near $15 per share — well below the company’s November 2013 IPO price of $22 per share. Shares hit a peak of $68.39 in February 2014, but have continued a downward trend following earnings misses. The stock is down 35 percent so far this year.
On Friday, Alibaba disclosed that it owned 11.5 million shares of Zulily, making it the company’s largest outside shareholder. According to SEC documents, Alibaba purchased 4.8 million shares of Zulily between May 6th and May 8th at a cost of about $56 million.
“We have great respect for the team at Alibaba and all that they have built,” said Zulily CEO Darrell Cavens in a statement emailed to GeekWire. “We are honored to welcome them as shareholders of our company.”
