In the past 3 years, Alibaba experienced Ant Group's IPO suspension, the antitrust fine and the delisting threats, but with Jack Ma’s returning to China and the company’s restructuring plan, the stock price already rose over 13% so far in 2023.
Here are Alibaba’s 3-year timeline and the analyst’s view of its stock price.
July 20, 2020
Ant Group Co., which owns the popular mobile-payments network Alipay, said it is planning initial public offerings in Hong Kong and Shanghai, bypassing New York as it seeks to accelerate its growth in China and abroad.
The company was founded by billionaire Jack Ma and is one of the world’s most valuable startups, said it is targeting concurrent listings on China’s year-old, Nasdaq-like STAR market for homegrown technology companies and Hong Kong’s stock exchange.
November 3, 2020
Ant Group’s record $34.5 billion IPO in Shanghai and Hong Kong has been suspended. The Shanghai Stock Exchange referred to that meeting in explaining why it has suspended the IPO.
It said Ant has reported significant issues such as the changes in the financial technology regulatory environment, these issues may result in the company not meeting the conditions for listing or meeting the information disclosure requirements.
April 10, 2021
China slapped a record $2.8 billion fine on Alibaba after an anti-monopoly probe found it abused its market dominance, as Beijing clamps down on its internet giants.
The 18.2 billion yuan penalty is triple the previous high of almost $1 billion that U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm had to pay in 2015 and was based on 4% of Alibaba’s 2019 domestic revenue, according to China’s antitrust watchdog. The company will also have to initiate “comprehensive rectifications,” from protecting merchants and customers to strengthening internal controls, the agency said in a statement.
May 13, 2021
Alibaba posted its first operating loss as a public company in its fiscal fourth quarter as a massive antitrust fine it received last month weighed on its earnings.
It swung to a net loss in the March quarter of 5.47 billion yuan. The market had expected a net profit of 6.95 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv estimates.
July 29, 2022
Alibaba became the latest company to be added to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's list of Chinese companies that might be delisted.
It is among more than 270 Chinese companies listed in New York identified as being at risk of delisting under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA), intended to address a long-running dispute over the auditing compliance of U.S.-listed Chinese firms.
December 15, 2022
PCAOB announced that it was able to secure complete access to inspect and investigate audit firms in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for the first time in history, and released the 2022 HFCAA Determination Report.
Its announcement marks a step forward in potentially resolving regulatory differences between the United States and China, and effectively resets the three-year compliance clock to prevent the possible and immediate delisting of over 200 China-based public companies from the U.S. stock exchanges pursuant to the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA).
January 7, 2023
Ant Group said in a statement on Saturday it was adjusting its ownership structure so that no shareholder, alone or jointly with other parties, will have control over the company.
Jack Ma indirectly controlled 53.46% of Ant Group’s shares, making him the company’s “control person”. But now he will hold just 6.2% of the voting rights following the adjustment, according to the information in the statement, which means that he will cede control of it.
March 27, 2023
Jack Ma made a rare public appearance in China two years after first disappearing from public view.
He visited the Yungu School in his hometown of Hangzhou in east China. The private school caters to students from kindergarten to high school.
March 28, 2023
Alibaba will split its company into six business groups, each with the ability to raise outside funding and go public, in the most significant reorganization in the Chinese e-commerce giant’s history.
Each business group will be managed by its own CEO and board of directors.
It said in a statement that the move is “designed to unlock shareholder value and foster market competitiveness.”
JPMorgan Believed Alibaba’s Share Can Double After Its Restructuring Plan
JPMorgan analyst Alex Yao believed Alibaba’s reorganization could bring about more significant implications to business fundamentals and share price over the mid-to-longer term, and expected positive share price reaction to the reorganization announcement and the sum-of-the-parts (SOTP) valuation analysis indicated a US$210/HK$205 value per share as a blue sky scenario.