Chinese internet giant Alibaba has exited One97 Communications, the parent of Paytm, selling its residual 3.30 per cent stake in a block deal worth Rs 1,378 crore on the NSE.

Exchange data showed Alibaba sold 2.14 crore shares at an average price of Rs 642.74 per share, a discount of 8.9 per cent from Thursday’s closing of Rs 705.95.

Last month, Alibaba had sold 3.1 per cent in the Paytm parent at a much lower price of Rs 535.90. The Jack Ma-company held 4.06 crore shares, representing 6.26 per cent, of One97 on December 31.

Alibaba group firm Ant Financial continues to hold around 25 per cent stake in Paytm. The sale led to the shares of Paytm ending deeply in the red.

The stock crumbled 8.75 per cent or Rs 62.35 to end at Rs 650.20 on the BSE. Paytm was on a roll after Macquarie upgraded the counter twice to outperform from underperform.

It also raised the target price 80 per cent to Rs 800. Macquarie said it sees a very visible change in the management approach to deliver profit, reflected by Ebitda in the third quarter.

During the period, Paytm saw consolidated losses falling to Rs 392 crore against a loss of Rs 778.4 crore in the year-ago period. It reported adjusted Ebitda, or operational profit breakeven excluding Esop cost, three quarters ahead of the initial guidance of September, 2023.

Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma recently said in a conference call that focus is on increasing profitability based on Ebitda.