Joseph Tsai does not split the family assets

The once "fairy couple" has come to the end of their marriage.

Yesterday (August 1), Joseph Tsai, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alibaba Group, and his wife Clara Wu Tsai announced that they are ending their nearly 30-year marriage.

When a wealthy couple goes through a divorce, the outside world's first question is often how their assets will be divided — but what is surprising this time is that the statement clearly states that existing businesses will remain unchanged.

It should be noted that Joseph Tsai has a huge business empire behind him. Forbes estimates his personal net worth at about 12.5 billion U.S. dollars (about 84.4 billion yuan). In addition to his Alibaba shares, the couple also jointly hold multiple investments including sports teams.

As their marriage ends, their joint business continues to move forward as usual, leaving a rare example of "divorce without splitting the family assets".

The Fairy Couple: Divorce Without Splitting Shared Assets

Let's first look at the statement itself.

Spokespersons for both sides said the decision to divorce was made on the basis of mutual respect and negotiation. Over the years, the two have gradually developed into a partnership, running businesses together and raising their children together. As their romantic feelings have drifted apart, the two will divorce amicably and remain close and solid partners in their careers.

It is worth noting that the statement involves future arrangements for many commercial projects. According to the information disclosed so far, Joseph Tsai has no plan to sell his Alibaba shares, and his position as Chairman of the Alibaba Board of Directors remains unchanged.

The sports assets jointly held by the two also remain as they are. The operating structure of the Brooklyn Nets, the New York Liberty and their parent company Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment (BSE Global) remains the same. Joseph Tsai will continue to serve as Chairman of BSE and Chairman of the Nets, Clara Wu Tsai will remain as Vice Chairman of BSE and Chairman of the New York Liberty, and the teams will still be operated on a regular basis by a professional team.

The statement also mentions arrangements for the next generation. The couple have three children, all of whom are adults, and will participate in relevant businesses in the future.

It is no wonder that the outside world is curious, as this divorce involves wealth amounting to hundreds of billions of yuan. As of August 1, 2026, Forbes estimates Joseph Tsai's personal net worth at about 12.5 billion U.S. dollars, equivalent to about 84.4 billion yuan.

Similar divorces, once involving listed company equity and sports assets, are often accompanied by changes in shareholding and ownership. The practice of "divorce without splitting shared assets" is not common in divorce cases of super-rich people.

The statement is only a few short sentences. For a divorce that affects a net worth of tens of billions of dollars, the calmness of the entire business empire is in itself the most striking result.

From Alibaba to Sports

A Huge Business Empire

Joseph Tsai's most well-known investment is joining Alibaba.

In 1999, Joseph Tsai met Jack Ma. At that time, he worked in the Hong Kong office of the venture capital division of Swedish Investor AB, while Alibaba was a grassroots startup team looking for funding everywhere.

The rest of the story is almost well-known to everyone in the venture capital circle. Joseph Tsai resolutely quit his venture capital job with an annual salary of 700,000 U.S. dollars and went to Hangzhou to join Alibaba, which had an uncertain future at the time.

Leveraging his experience as a lawyer and investor, he built the legal and financial systems for Alibaba in its early founding stage. He was behind several key capital operations including SoftBank's investment, Yahoo's stake acquisition, and Alibaba's listing. In May 2013, Joseph Tsai shifted to take charge of the group's strategic investment, until he stepped down in 2019. After several twists and turns, in 2023, Joseph Tsai returned to the core of Alibaba's power and served as Chairman of the Group's Board of Directors.

Alibaba's annual report shows that as of March 31, 2026, Joseph Tsai's total pre-tax compensation for that fiscal year was 42.271 million yuan.

When Joseph Tsai decided to join Alibaba, he had just been married to Clara Wu Tsai for three years.

The two got married in 1996. Clara Wu Tsai also has an impressive resume. She earned a bachelor's degree in literature and a master's degree in international policy studies from Stanford University, and later obtained an MBA from Harvard University. After graduation, she joined American Express, a Fortune 500 company, and eventually rose to the position of Vice President for the Asia region.

Little known is that Clara Wu Tsai once briefly joined Alibaba. She served as the group's consultant and general manager of Hong Kong business, and provided many key ideas and decisions for Alipay.

Both of them are "sports fans" and often appear side by side in the front row of the stadium. Naturally, they are both deeply passionate about sports undertakings.

That led to the well-known acquisition. Joseph Tsai previously bought the Nets and related assets in batches, with a total investment of about 3 billion U.S. dollars. In 2024, the couple sold part of their equity to the Koch family, valuing the relevant assets at 6 billion U.S. dollars for the entire transaction. In just a few years, the book valuation of this investment has doubled.

The value of the other team has risen even more dramatically.

Last June, the New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) sold part of its equity at a valuation of 450 million U.S. dollars (over 3.2 billion yuan), setting a new record for the valuation of women's professional sports clubs. Behind the team are also Joseph Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai, who bought the team for more than 10 million U.S. dollars in 2019.

The book return on this investment is already impressive. Clara Wu Tsai once revealed in interviews with Bloomberg and other media that her goal is to build it into a team valued at more than 1 billion U.S. dollars. "Getting from 450 million U.S. dollars to 1 billion U.S. dollars is much easier than starting from zero."

A more hidden part of their business empire is Blue Pool Capital.

Its predecessor can be traced back to 2004, when it was founded in Hong Kong by Joseph Tsai and Alexander West, and the main body of Blue Pool Capital was formally established in 2014. Joseph Tsai is the core investor, and in the early stage, it also involved the wealth management of Jack Ma and other Alibaba executives.

The so-called "Blue Pool" symbolizes the investment philosophy of depth, calmness and long-termism. As of 2022, Blue Pool Capital had assets under management of more than 50 billion U.S. dollars (about 360 billion yuan), making it a top family office in Asia.

In March this year, new developments emerged at Blue Pool Capital. According to The Wall Street Journal, its first private equity fund has raised 1 billion U.S. dollars.

Prior to that, Blue Pool Capital had quietly built a global investment portfolio, including SpaceX, ByteDance, Hua Medicine, Brii Biosciences, innovative drug R&D company FogPharma, Middle Eastern consumer credit platform Tabby, and luxury brand Golden Goose, etc.

Looking back, the two each have their own pursuits, but they have always stood side by side. Now that their marriage has come to an end, their long-standing partnership will continue.

Enlightenment

The Greatest Decency for Adults

Decency is often fully revealed when a relationship comes to an end.

How much money is divided is usually the most eye-catching number in a wealthy person's divorce case. Just a few days ago, another divorce case was ruled on. After a ten-year legal battle, SK Hynix Chairman Chey Tae-won was ordered to pay 944 billion won (about 430 million yuan) to his ex-wife, setting a new record for the division of divorce property in South Korea.

In contrast, the choice of Joseph Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai appears to be exceptionally restrained. Separating without destroying each other is probably the greatest decency for adults.

In a broader context, such a case becomes very important. For ordinary families, divorce mostly involves real estate and deposits. At the level of hundreds of billions of yuan in wealth, a marriage is also tied to company equity, family assets, and even the interests of tens of thousands of employees and investors. How the private relationship ends has also become a test of corporate governance.

This problem is now being placed in front of more and more Chinese entrepreneurs. According to analysis by McKinsey, from 2023 to 2030, about 5.8 trillion U.S. dollars of wealth in the Asia-Pacific region will be transferred across generations, 60% of which comes from ultra-high net worth families. After decades of entrepreneurship, the first generation of Chinese entrepreneurs have gradually reached the crossroads of wealth succession. How to maintain stable control, how to pass on family assets, and how the next generation will participate in the business have gradually become a long-term test.

Changes in marriage are just one of the stress tests. Illness, accidents and intergenerational succession may all break the original arrangements. A mature wealth structure often shows its value at these moments. The marriage can end, and the company does not have to fall into turmoil accordingly.

Greater changes come from relevant regulations.

The transparency of cross-border assets continues to increase, and the reporting and tax rules for offshore trusts are also being further clarified. Structures that were once considered a once-and-for-all solution now need to be re-examined. Wealth arrangements must not only handle relationships within the family, but also withstand repeated tests of time and regulations.

When everyone is talking about how to create wealth, the real test actually comes later: when you reach the key juncture of life, how to ensure the smooth succession of wealth.

This article is from the WeChat Official Account "Pedaily" (ID: pedaily2012), written by Wang Lu, and authorized for release by 36Kr.