阿里正在抛售快递股权 大量出售旗下资产

This article covers Alibaba's overall reduction of its shareholdings in Tongda-network express companies, a strategic adjustment of its logistics business that signals the industry has entered a new development stage.

1. Details of the adjustment: Alibaba has gradually reduced its stakes in multiple Tongda-network firms including YTO Express and Yunda Express in recent years. In 2025 alone, it cashed out more than 2.361 billion yuan from reducing its YTO holdings. Its stake in Yunda dropped from 2% in 2023 to 0.71% in the first half of 2025, and it only retains a 25% stake in STO Express. This is an overall layout adjustment rather than a move targeting a single company.

2. Reasons behind the adjustment: First, Cainiao has already built a comprehensive self-operated logistics capacity and shifted its focus to the core businesses of "international expansion + technology", so it no longer needs equity ties to secure distribution capacity. Second, the express delivery industry has entered a mature stage, where enterprises need more independence to expand diversified customer bases, making the capital-binding model obsolete.

3. Current state of cooperation: The loosening of equity ties does not mean a split. Business cooperation between the two sides remains normal, and the shift from equity binding to more flexible market-oriented cooperation marks the maturation of the industry.

Alibaba's stake reduction in express companies, an industry-defining shift, offers key insights for brands planning their supply chains and tracking consumer trends.

1. More options for supply chain management: As the capital-binding model between e-commerce platforms and express firms breaks down, Tongda-network companies will roll out more competitive pricing and services to win market share. Brands can select more cost-effective express providers that match their product positioning to cut fulfillment costs and improve delivery experience.

2. New opportunities in niche markets: Cainiao is now focusing on self-operated high-end express services after integrating Daniao into STO, intensifying competition in the premium delivery market. Brands with high-end product lines will gain access to more high-quality delivery options. Meanwhile, Cainiao's accelerated expansion of its global warehouse and distribution network provides more stable cross-border fulfillment support for brands engaged in cross-border business.

3. Signal of consumer trends: The logistics industry now competes on service quality. Brands can build their own competitive advantages by matching differentiated logistics services to their products — for example, pairing premium products with faster, better delivery to boost customer satisfaction.

Alibaba's strategic adjustment of its express delivery holdings brings new opportunities for e-commerce sellers, as well as notable risk warnings.

1. New opportunities to capture: As the express industry becomes more market-oriented, Tongda-network companies will actively cut prices and upgrade services to expand market share. Most sellers can secure more favorable cooperation pricing to effectively lower fulfillment costs. Sellers of premium products can choose Cainiao's self-operated high-end express services to improve delivery quality, while cross-border e-commerce sellers can leverage Cainiao's global warehouse and distribution network to shorten delivery lead times and unlock more growth potential.

2. Key risk warnings: During the short-term industry restructuring, some local express outlets may experience service disruptions. Sellers are advised to connect with 1 to 2 backup express providers in advance to avoid large-scale order delays or lost packages that could hurt store ratings.

3. Recommended strategy: Sellers can match different tiers of express providers based on the price positioning of different products, to control overall costs while guaranteeing service quality for high-value orders.

The industry shift triggered by Alibaba's stake reduction brings new business opportunities and development insights for manufacturing factories.

1. New business opportunities: As express companies enter independent market competition, they are increasing investment to upgrade service capabilities and roll out intelligent logistics equipment. This drives明显 higher demand for smart sorting equipment, IoT logistics hardware, environmentally friendly packaging materials and related products. Factories producing these goods can expand beyond relying on single-platform partnerships and directly serve multiple express companies to grow order volume and market share.

2. Opportunities for e-commerce supplier factories: Factories that supply e-commerce sellers now enjoy more stable logistics fulfillment costs and more provider options. They are no longer bound to a single e-commerce platform, and can expand sales to multiple channels to reduce operational risks from over-reliance on a single channel.

3. Insights for digital transformation: The overall trend of digital and intelligent upgrading in the logistics industry remains unchanged. Whether serving logistics or e-commerce clients, factories need to accelerate their own digital transformation to meet the new cooperation requirements of the industry and secure more stable orders.

Alibaba's strategic adjustment reflects new trends in the e-commerce logistics industry and points to new development directions for logistics-related service providers.

1. New industry trends: The old model of deep capital binding between platforms and express companies is no longer mainstream. Now that express companies have gained substantially more independence and the industry has shifted to market-oriented competition, demand for professional third-party services continues to grow.

2. Core pain points of clients: Express companies are now expanding diversified customer structures, optimizing costs and improving service quality, while a large number of players are entering the cross-border market. This creates growing demand for external support, including digital operation management, multi-channel customer acquisition, overseas compliance services and localized operation support, which the old platform-focused service model can no longer meet.

3. Directions for solutions: Service providers can capitalize on this industry restructuring. To meet the needs of independent express companies, they can launch lightweight SaaS operation systems and multi-channel customer acquisition tools. For express firms expanding cross-border, they can develop products such as overseas compliance consulting and local warehouse and distribution operation services to tap into the incremental market brought by industry adjustment.

Alibaba's strategic adjustment of its express logistics business offers valuable insights and references for the operation and layout of all types of platforms.

1. Shifting market demand: The heavy model of binding supply chains through large capital shareholdings no longer fits the new stage of industry development. It not only ties up substantial capital and resources for platforms, but also limits the development space of partners. The industry now favors flexible market-oriented business collaboration, which allows platforms to save capital investment and focus on core businesses.

2. New direction for platform layout: In this adjustment, Cainiao has scaled back non-core businesses to focus on the core tracks of "international expansion + technology", showing that platforms will increasingly deepen core business operations, spin off or transfer non-core businesses, and concentrate resources to build core competitiveness. This layout strategy is a valuable reference for all types of platforms.

3. Risks to avoid: Platforms should avoid the risk of over-binding partners through equity. This model not only diverts resources from core businesses, but also restricts partners' growth. Going forward, platforms can shift to deep collaboration at the business level instead of equity binding, for a more flexible cooperation model that better stimulates vitality across the industrial chain.

Alibaba's reduction of shareholdings in Tongda-network express companies is a landmark event in the development of China's e-commerce express industry, offering a typical research sample for industrial research.

1. New industrial trends: The cooperation model between e-commerce and express delivery has fundamentally changed, shifting from early deep capital binding to today's flexible market-oriented business collaboration. Alibaba's logistics business has transformed from relying on equity stakes in third-party express firms to a combination of self-operated logistics infrastructure and open collaboration, with Cainiao evolving into a global logistics infrastructure platform with independent self-operated capacity. Meanwhile, the industry has seen a new capital cooperation model: SF Holding and J&T Express have taken strategic minority stakes in each other, a logic completely different from the old platform-binding model.

2. New industry problems exposed: After the industry entered its mature stage, the drawbacks of the capital-heavy binding model have become prominent. On one hand, it ties up large amounts of platform capital and prevents platforms from focusing on core businesses. On the other hand, it restricts express companies from expanding diversified customer bases and hinders overall industry efficiency improvement. The industry needs new cooperation models adapted to its current stage of development.

3. Research insights: Industrial cooperation models must adjust along with the industry's development stage. Both capital entry and capital exit are signs of industry maturation. Future industrial research should pay more attention to innovation in industrial chain cooperation models under market-oriented competition.