Life has come full circle for Chinese stocks in general and Alibaba (BABA) in particular. After China's brutal tech crackdown in 2020 and 2021, several analysts characterized Chinese stocks as “uninvestible.” The label wasn’t entirely unwarranted, as China targeted emerging sectors, such as edtech companies, and policy uncertainty made it challenging to value Chinese companies.
Alibaba was perhaps the face of the crackdown, as the company’s co-founder, Jack Ma, was seen to be getting too big for his boots after he criticized Chinese regulators heading into the IPO of the company's subsidiary Ant Financial in 2020. As things turned out, China cancelled that IPO, which was set to become the largest Chinese listing ever. Importantly, Ma wasn’t seen in public for weeks, and while he has since emerged back in public life, it is a more chastened version.
