The shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba fell more than 7% at the opening of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday, after the group announced the day before that it was abandoning its cloud business project. (AFP/Archives/WANG Zhao)
The shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba fell more than 7% at the opening of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday, after the group announced the day before that it was abandoning its cloud business project. (cloud computing).
The title plunged 7.13% at the opening, in line with Wall Street where the company’s action fell 8.11% on Thursday after the cancellation of its project due to American restrictions on computer chips.
In reaction to the news, the group’s securities listed on Wall Street also collapsed by 9.14% to $79.11.
In March, Alibaba announced a major restructuring plan. He then planned to divide the group into six entities, five of which could be listed separately on the stock exchange.
The stated objective was in particular to create more value for shareholders and to be more competitive.
But the company announced Thursday that it was canceling for the time being the plan to spin off its cloud business into a separate entity due to “the recent strengthening of American restrictions on the export of cutting-edge computer chips.”
“We believe that a complete spin-off of Cloud Intelligence Group may not produce the desired effect of improving shareholder value,” Alibaba said Thursday in a statement announcing its quarterly results.
This indicates that Alibaba reported a turnover up 9% year-on-year over the July-September period, after several difficult years and against a backdrop of economic slowdown in China, which is weighing on consumption. .
The group based in Hangzhou (east), a key player in the digital economy, is a precursor to the generalization of online shopping in China. As such, it is a barometer of consumption in the country.
– National security –
Alibaba’s announcement that it was abandoning its plan to spin off its cloud computing arm surprised investors.
“I was quite surprised,” Kevin Net, head of Asian equities at Tocqueville Finance, told Bloomberg. “At first I thought the whole restructuring of the company might be in jeopardy.”
The United States has been trying for many months to limit the access of Chinese companies to cutting-edge technologies, in particular with restrictions on exports to the Asian giant of semiconductors and the machines used for their manufacture.
According to the American administration, this is to prevent their use by China for military purposes and to respond to threats posed to “national security”.
The export of the most efficient chips, in particular those used for the development of artificial intelligence, is subject to the granting of a license by the American authorities.
China regularly denounces these measures, which it accuses of wanting to halt its economic development.
Alibaba’s restructuring plan was announced after several years of turbulence for “tech” in China, marked by a takeover by the authorities of a powerful sector that was then poorly regulated.
In 2020, Alibaba was the first company to suffer the vindictiveness of those in power.
The authorities then stopped at the last minute what should have become one of the largest fundraising in history ($34 billion) for its former subsidiary Ant Group, owner of Alipay, a telephone payment system. very popular in China.
© 2023 AFP
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