Alibaba raises $10.2 billion in Hong Kong sale, shares drop 10%
What's new: The 710 million-share deal funds a three-year AI buildout as investors weigh dilution and weaker near-term profits.
Alibaba raised HK$80 billion, or about $10.2 billion, in a Hong Kong share sale to bankroll a bigger push into artificial intelligence, then saw its stock sink as much as 10% on Monday. The company priced 710 million new shares at HK$112.70 each, an 8.4% discount to Friday’s close, in what the reports described as Hong Kong’s largest primary follow-on offering on record. Alibaba said the proceeds will go to full-stack AI investment, including chips, infrastructure and model development. The fundraising comes after the company pledged more than 380 billion yuan over three years for cloud and AI infrastructure and after June-quarter profit fell 75% as spending accelerated.