(Adds details on share repurchase in paragraph 3-5)

Jan 2 (Reuters) – China’s Alibaba Group said on Tuesday it had repurchased a total of 897.9 million of its shares for $9.5 billion during 2023.

The shares were bought in both the U.S. and Hong Kong stock markets, the company said in a filing.

The e-commerce giant said the remaining amount the company’s Board had authorized for its share repurchase program, which is effective through March 2025, was $11.7 billion.

“Our share repurchase program resulted in a net reduction of 3.3% in our outstanding shares in the last 12 months after accounting for shares issued under our ESOP (employee stock ownership plan),” the company said.

Alibaba had 20 billon outstanding shares as of Dec. 31, compared with 29.7 billion at the end of 2022.

(Reporting by Poonam Behura; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Krishna Chandra Eluri)