- Alibaba lures investors with new holding structure
- ’30 years of ‘socialist market economy’
- EU agrees on anti-coercion instrument
- Sinolytics.Radar: blacklists for companies
- China woos ASML
- Oppo considers withdrawal from Europe
- Xi praises mediation in the Middle East
- Taiwan’s ex-president urges: We are all Chinese
- FTX CEO allegedly bribed Chinese officials
- Heads: Joerg Philipp – China’s wine advisor
It was a return with a bang. Just one day after company founder Jack Ma reappeared on the Chinese scene for the first time in months, tech company Alibaba announced its split. It will divide itself into six separate subsidiaries, sorted by business area. They will all be allowed to operate independently, attract investors and even go public.
As Finn Mayer Kuckuk analyzes, splitting into a holding structure could offer some advantages. Smaller companies tend to fly more under the radar of regulatory supervisors. They are also more flexible in their decisions. And potential investors get a concrete picture of the business field they are putting their money into.
The Alibaba case shows: China’s companies have grown up. Fittingly, this Wednesday China is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its “socialist market economy”, a unique construct of capitalism and communism. While some fear a receding of the free-market element since Xi Jinping took office, Felix Lee reassures in his analysis: Private companies are growing faster than the ponderous state-owned enterprises, even in the Xi era.
Tomorrow, Thursday, Ursula von der Leyen will elaborate on her China policy in a keynote speech. The EU Commission President will speak out in favor of rebalancing the relationship with Beijing and announce concrete measures, it is said in Brussels. This could involve the announcement of a Commission proposal for investment restrictions in China and other non-EU countries, which has been floating around in the Brussels bubble for some time. This would make investments by European companies in security-relevant sectors in China subject to approval.
EU negotiators already agreed on another tool yesterday: The “anti-coercion” instrument is supposed to better protect EU states from economic blackmail from Beijing. Amelie Richter analyzes the details.
Christiane Kühl
Feature
Six smaller Babas instead of one big Alibaba
The internet giant Alibaba will get a holding structure. It will split into six subsidiaries. These are to take care of their finances independently. One of the most important goals here: They are to independently pursue IPOs, as the company announced on Tuesday. With this step, the most important business areas of the 220 billion dollar empire – from e-commerce to media to the cloud – are more flexible than ever before.
Just the day before the announcement, Alibaba founder Jack Ma first appeared in public again in China. Also on Monday, the country’s new premier Li Qiang pledged that China would “unswervingly” stick to its opening-up policy. In this context, the company’s restructuring could signify hope for a better business climate for private companies.
Signal for a dynamic new beginning
The repositioning is seen as a signal that Alibaba wants to tap the stock markets again. During the Chinese government’s tech crackdown, the company’s value plummeted by over 500 billion dollars to currently around 250 billion dollars. The restructuring is now supposed to create confidence and signal a more dynamic new start. Investors seem to welcome the plans: Alibaba shares rose significantly on the New York Stock Exchange.
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