BEIJING: Alibaba has lost $344 billion in world’s biggest wipeout

BEIJING: Few people could have predicted
the downward spiral for Alibaba Group Holding, when founder Jack Ma delivered a
blunt criticism of China’s financial system last October.

Yet one year on, the technology
titan has lost a whopping $344 billion in market capitalization — the biggest
wipe-out of shareholder value globally, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg. Shortly after the now infamous speech, Beijing suspended the listing
of its fintech arm Ant Group and has since followed up with a widespread
crackdown on the country’s most vibrant sectors — causing Chinese stocks to
tank.

Value losses
Alibaba shares sank from an all-time high that month to a record low three
weeks ago in Hong Kong, as Beijing stepped up its scrutiny of the company’s
practices and urged a restructure of its fintech business. Despite a 30%
recovery from Oct. 5, the stock is still 43% lower than its October 2020 peak.

Bloomberg
Intelligence expects fiscal second-quarter active users at the e-commerce giant
to have beaten consensus projections as a result of China’s zero-Covid policy.
Alibaba is set to report earnings on November 5.