Alisher Usmanov, the wealthiest man in Russia and the 34th richest in the world, reduced his investments in Facebook and Apple and put 70% to 80% of his investments for foreign internet businesses on Chinese firms such as Alibaba and Jingdong Mall, reports the Xinhua news agency.

The 60-year-old iron, steel and mining tycoon sold off his holdings of Apple stocks worth around US$100 million purchased in March last year. Apple's stock plunged after its public listing in 2012 but it rebounded 23% after Usmanov's investment. It has now declined again by 6% to US$172 billion.

Usmanov also reduced his stocks in Facebook. His fund promised to relinquish voting rights to the social networking site's founder Mark Zuckerberg when the tycoon and his partners bought 10% of Facebook shares in 2009. They sold some of their shares for US$104 billion when the website went public in May 2012.

Chinese companies amount to 70% to 80% of the tycoon's portfolio for foreign internet companies, said Ivan Streshinsky, advisor of Usmanov's asset management firm USM. His main investments include China's largest e-commerce company Alibaba and online shopping service Jingdong Mall, amongst others, that he believes have huge potential, said Streshinsky.

Alibaba reported profits for the fourth consecutive quarter in September last year and was estimated to be worth US$200 billion by several investment banks. If the Chinese company continues to grow at the current rate, it will become the world's second largest internet company after Google.

The advisor said the firm hopes to gain a return from its Chinese investments as good or even better than its US investments. If Russia is sanctioned because of its dispute with Ukraine, the firm will not be affected since China is unlikely to impose the same measures. USM will continue to trade in the Russian ruble, the renminbi, as well as the Hong Kong and Singapore dollar.