Back to square one: Alibaba's share price is back to where it was at its IPO

3/15/22 7:00PM

China changes course

‍China has pledged to keep its stock markets more stable and take measures to boost economic growth this morning, sending shares of tech companies Alibaba and JD.com up more than 25% at the time of writing. For e-commerce giant Alibaba that news couldn't have come any sooner, as the company's share price has been in a slump for much of the last 18 months, which has had little to do with the company's fundamentals.

Thanks to its ties with founder Jack Ma, Alibaba has been in the cross hairs of China's big tech crackdown. That has meant that, despite growing its revenue more than 13x from 2014 to 2021, Alibaba's share price found itself below its IPO price as recently as yesterday.

‍Not the time for tough love

‍China may have lost its appetite for beating up on big tech given all that's happened in the last few weeks. Russia's closeness with China (the "no limits" friendship), a fresh outbreak of Covid-19 (which has meant lockdowns) and a tougher regulatory outlook for US-listed Chinese companies have all put Chinese assets deeply out of favor with global investors. The result is a supportive Chinese state for its biggest tech companies... for now.

Rani Molla10h

Amazon expands low-price Haul section to 14 new markets as Amazon Bazaar app

Amazon is expanding its low-cost Amazon Haul experience to a new stand-alone app called Amazon Bazaar.

Amazon launched its Temu and Shein competitor a year ago as a US mobile storefront on its website and has since expanded to about a dozen markets. Consumers could purchase many items for under $10, as long as they were willing to stomach longer delivery times.

Now, thanks to success in those places, the programming is expanding to 14 new markets — Hong Kong, the Philippines, Taiwan, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Nigeria — with a new app and name: Amazon Bazaar.

“Both Amazon Haul and Amazon Bazaar deliver the same ultra low-price shopping experience, with different names chosen to better resonate with local language preferences and cultures,” the company said in a press release.

Amazon extends Haul’s ultra low-price shopping experience to 14 new destinations with new Amazon Bazaar app

Big Tech’s most important infrastructure is at the bottom of the sea

While data centers on land are getting all the attention, Big Tech’s vast network of undersea fiber-optic cables carry 99% of all international network traffic.

Jon Keegan10h

Jon Keegan11h

After watching small drones reshape the battlefield in Ukraine, the US Army has announced plans to buy 1 million drones over the next two to three years, according to a report from Reuters.

The military threat of China’s dominance of the quadcopter-style drone industry is also driving the decision. But China’s control over much of the supply chain for drones, including rare earth magnets, sensors, and microcontrollers, will make it much harder for American drone manufacturers to catch up.

Rani Molla

They’re Out There

13h

The wildest stuff Elon Musk said at Tesla’s shareholder meeting

Get ready to text and drive while the Optimus robot cures poverty.