SAN FRANCISCO — SoftBank, the Japanese telecommunications company, said on Tuesday that it planned to sell about $8 billion worth of its stake in the Alibaba Group of China to help pay down its debt load.

旧金山——周二，日本电信公司软银(SoftBank)表示，计划出售价值约80亿美元的阿里巴巴股份，以减轻其债务负担。

It will be the first time that SoftBank has sold any of its shares in the Chinese e-commerce giant since first investing in that company 16 years ago, becoming one of the first believers in Alibaba’s potential.

软银16年前入股阿里巴巴，成为相信其发展潜力的第一批投资者。这将是它首次出售自己持有的这家中国电子商务巨头的股份。

SoftBank plans to sell its stake in stages. Approximately $5 billion will be packaged into a financial security that will convert into shares in Alibaba after three years.

软银计划分阶段出售这些股份。其中有价值约50亿美元的股份将被打包成金融证券出售，三年以后可以转换成阿里巴巴股份。

Alibaba itself will buy back about $2 billion worth of shares from SoftBank. The Chinese company’s partnership, a group that essentially controls the e-commerce giant through its ability to nominate a majority of directors, plans to buy an additional $400 million worth of shares.

阿里巴巴本身将从软银回购价值约20亿美元的股份。它的一个伙伴计划另外购买价值4亿美元的股份。该伙伴企业可以任命阿里巴巴的大部分董事，是这家电子商务巨头的实质掌控者。

And SoftBank will sell another $500 million shares to an unnamed government’s investment fund.

软银将出售另外5亿美元的股份给一家未披露名称的政府投资基金。

In a statement, SoftBank — the majority owner of Sprint in the United States — said that the stock sales were meant to reduce its corporate debt burden. The company reported holding about 8.5 trillion yen, or just under $77 billion, worth of long-term debt as of March 31, according to Standard & Poor’s Capital IQ, a research service.

软银是美国Sprint公司的控股股东。在一份声明中，软银表示，出售阿里巴巴的这些股份意在减轻自身的债务负担。据研究公司标普资本智商(Standard & Poor’s Capital IQ)统计，截至今年的3月31日，软银的长期债务价值约为8.5万亿日元（逾5000亿元人民币）。

Even after the sale, however, SoftBank said that it would remain one of Alibaba’s biggest shareholders, with a stake of about 28 percent. Masayoshi Son, the Japanese company’s chairman and chief executive, will remain on Alibaba’s board. Alibaba’s co-founder and executive chairman, Jack Ma, will still be a director of SoftBank, as well.

不过，软银表示，即便是出售这些股份之后，该公司仍是阿里巴巴最大的股东之一，占股约28%。这家日本企业的董事长兼首席执行官孙正义(Masayoshi Son)依然拥有阿里巴巴的董事席位。阿里的联合创始人、董事局主席马云也将继续担任软银的董事。

“This investment has been phenomenally successful and, over the past 16 years, we have built a close relationship, working together on many exciting projects,” Mr. Son said in a statement. “In that time, we have not sold any Alibaba shares. There are huge opportunities ahead for Alibaba and SBG looks forward to the continued partnership.”

“这项投资获得了非同寻常的成功。在过去的16年里，我们建立起密切的关系，一起做了许多令人兴奋的项目，”孙正义在声明中表示。“在这期间，我们不曾出售阿里巴巴的任何股份。阿里巴巴还有着巨大的发展机遇，软银期待与之继续保持合作关系。”