Pershing Square Bids €30.40 Per Share to Acquire Universal Music Group in $9.4B Deal 
Deere & Company Agrees to $99 Million Settlement Over Right-to-Repair Dispute 
China Vanke Seeks Bond Extension Amid Mounting Debt Crisis 
Cybersecurity Stocks Tumble After Anthropic's Claude Mythos AI Leak Sparks Market Fears 
Paramount Skydance Secures $24B from Gulf Sovereign Wealth Funds for Warner Bros. Discovery Takeover 
Samsung Electronics Posts Eightfold Profit Surge Driven by AI Chip Demand 
Australia's Social Media Ban for Under-16s Sparks Global Movement 
Apple's Foldable iPhone Faces Engineering Setbacks, Mass Production Timeline at Risk 
Britain Courts Anthropic Amid US Defense Department Dispute 
China vs. NASA: The New Moon Race and What's at Stake by 2030 
U.S. Automakers Push Back Against EU Rules Blocking American Trucks from European Market 
Meta and Google just lost a landmark social media addiction case. A tech law expert explains the fallout 
OpenAI Executive Shake-Up Ahead of Anticipated 2026 IPO 
Microsoft's $10 Billion Japan Investment: AI Infrastructure and Data Sovereignty Push 
Anthropic Fights Pentagon Blacklisting in Dual Federal Court Battles 
UAE's Largest Natural Gas Facility Suspended After Attack-Triggered Fire 
Alibaba's Hong Kong-listed shares (HK:9988) dropped 2.9% to HK$122.70 on Thursday, emerging as one of the heaviest drags on the Hang Seng Index, which closed 0.6% lower. The selloff came after investment bank Jefferies trimmed its price target on Alibaba's U.S.-listed shares (NYSE:BABA) from $212.00 to $185.00, citing mounting concerns over rising artificial intelligence expenditures and widening losses across the company's non-core business segments.
Despite the price target reduction, Jefferies maintained its Buy rating on the stock, signaling continued long-term confidence in the Chinese e-commerce and technology giant. The revised valuation reflects growing pressure from Alibaba's aggressive push to promote its Qwen AI platform, particularly during the high-stakes Lunar New Year shopping season. Earlier this year, Alibaba committed 3 billion yuan — roughly $431 million — toward holiday promotions, with a significant portion directed at driving user adoption of the Qwen AI application.
Jefferies acknowledged that Alibaba's recently launched AI text-to-video tool, Happy Horse, gained solid traction with users. However, the elevated marketing and promotional spend surrounding its AI ecosystem is expected to weigh on near-term earnings. In addition, the bank flagged that Alibaba's "All Others" segment — which encompasses its non-core and retail operations — is projected to report wider losses for the March quarter, driven by increased subsidies and promotional activity.
On a more encouraging note, Jefferies anticipates improvement in Alibaba's quick commerce losses during the same quarter. Looking further ahead, the brokerage forecasts that fiscal year 2027 losses in this segment could be cut in half compared to the prior year, suggesting that current spending may yield longer-term operational efficiencies.
Investors and analysts continue to monitor Alibaba's balancing act between heavy AI investment and sustainable profitability growth across its diversified business portfolio.
