Alibaba Slides After Capex Surge Drains Free Cash Flow Despite Cloud Growth
Baidu shares rose as investors treated Alibaba’s strong cloud growth as demand validation without matching invoices. Alibaba’s revenue was just under 269 billion yuan, up 9% YoY, but free cash flow swung to a 44.7 billion yuan outflow versus a positive 18.8 billion yuan a year earlier. Domestic commerce revenue fell 8% to just under 111 billion yuan as Alibaba’s 380 billion yuan AI/cloud capex cycle continues.