Alibaba’s top two executives bought HK$120 million ($15.3 million) of the company's shares following a stock slump triggered by a capital raise to fund AI spending. The company raised $10.2 billion (HK$80 billion) through a Hong Kong share placement of 710 million new shares offered at a sharp discount to investors outside the U.S. Net proceeds from the sale are earmarked exclusively for the expansion of Alibaba's full-stack AI capabilities and the upgrade of its infrastructure.
New reporting segments reveal divergent economics between the company's AI ventures. AI Cloud and Compute Services reported revenue of Rmb 48.4 billion ($7.1 billion), a 45% increase and the fastest growth in 22 quarters, with an adjusted EBITA margin of 11.6%. However, the AI Labs and Applications division, which develops the Qwen model, posted an adjusted EBITA loss of Rmb 13.9 billion ($2 billion), meaning the deficit more than quadrupled compared to a year ago.
Key sources
- SOURCE@reuters“Alibaba shares slide after $10.2 billion AI share sale offered at sharp discount”x.com
- SUPPORT@business“Alibaba’s top two executives bought about HK$120 million ($15.3 million) worth of their company’s shares”x.com
- SUPPORT@poezhao0605“In one year the deficit more than quadrupled”x.com
- SUPPORT@poezhao0605“AI products now account for 35% of Alibaba's external cloud revenue, after 12 straight quarters of triple-digit growth”x.com
- SUPPORT@mtslive“Hong Kong share placement of 710 million new shares”x.com
- SUPPORT@firstsquawk“its largest primary follow-on offering since listing”x.com
- SUPPORT@marketnews_feed“ALIBABA FALLS 8% IN HK AFTER $10B SHARE SALE AT A DISCOUNT”x.com
- SUPPORT@firstsquawk“Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares fell 10%”x.com