Alibaba launches HK$80 billion share placement
Shares of Alibaba fell eight percent to HK$113.00 soon after the stock market opened on Monday morning, and hours after the company announced the launch of an HK$80-billion, or US$10.2 billion, share placement to fund artificial intelligence-related development. The shares closed at HK$123.00 on Friday. The share placement by the Chinese e-commerce and cloud computing giant would mark the…
Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce and cloud computing giant, has launched an HK$80 billion (US$10.2 billion) share placement to fuel artificial intelligence (AI) development. The offering, which could be the largest primary follow-on by a Hong Kong-listed company, ranks as the world's third-largest such sale this year.
Shares of Alibaba fell eight percent to HK$113.00 after the stock market opened on Monday, following the announcement. On Friday, the shares had closed at HK$123.00. The company plans to utilize all net proceeds from the placement to bolster its full-stack AI capabilities, encompassing chips, infrastructure, and AI model development.
Alibaba did not disclose further details on its AI-related investment plans in its announcement. The company's AI-related capex investments are expected to pay off within 2.5 years, down from the previously anticipated three years, attributed to a surge in demand.
In April-to-June quarter results, Alibaba revealed that it had spent nearly half of its three-year capex investment plan. CEO Eddie Wu stated that the company would make these investments to accommodate future growth. However, the share offering has attracted strong investor interest, including sovereign wealth funds, though American investors were ineligible due to the non-registration under US securities laws.
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