As Alibaba’s shares edged ever lower this week, Daniel Zhang, chief executive, sought to reassure his employees: “Our values do not waver with the fluctuations in stock price”.
After hitting a $119 high in November, two months after its record-breaking $25bn initial public offering in New York, Alibaba’s shares have fallen steadily. They dipped below the $68 list price for the first time on Monday, driven by the market storms in China, where it is based, and the US, where it is listed.
Mr Zhang’s statement had an eerie ring to it. In 2012, Alibaba.com, the company’s first publicly traded incarnation that was listed in Hong Kong, was taken private via a management buyout. That move was accompanied by a statement that delisting would free the company “from the pressure of market expectations, earnings visibility and share price fluctuations”.