When Alibaba founder, Jack Ma, delivered a blunt criticism of China’s financial system last October, few could have predicted the downward spiral that Alibaba Group Holding’s has witnessed.
According to a Bloomberg report, in just a year, the technology titan, Alibaba has lost around $344 billion in market capitalisation, the largest ever decline in shareholder value globally.
In the aftermath of the now-infamous speech, Beijing suspended the listing of its Ant Group company, which Ma had spun off from Alibaba.
In response to Jack Ma’s speech last year, Chinese authorities had not only pulled Ant’s IPO but also launched an antitrust probe against Alibaba, which ultimately resulted in a $2.75 billion fine for the company.
The value of Alibaba’s stock fell the most over the past year globally.
As Beijing stepped up its scrutiny of Alibaba’s practices and encouraged a reorganization of its fintech business, the company’s shares dropped to a record low of USD 139.63 on October 4th (three weeks earlier).
The recent reports that Alibaba founder Jack Ma was in Europe has led to a six per cent jump in the company’s shares. In the aftermath of regulatory crackdowns on his business empire last year, Ma has kept a low profile and largely remained out of the public eye.
Since October 5th, the company’s stock has made a recovery of around 30 per cent. Despite this, the stock is still more than 40 per cent below its October 2020 peak.
The price of the company’s stock hovered around $174 on Monday, as opposed to the $306.87 a year earlier (26 October 2020).
Source: wionews.com