Alibaba (BABA) co-founder Jack Ma was welcomed back in from the Chinese cold today as he attended a meeting with Chinese leader President Xi.
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Over 20 Tech Titans Invited
Ma was among a group of over 20 Chinese tech titans invited to the forum in the capital Beijing which included an address from the President. Although a big supporter of the private sector in the early years of his leadership, Xi has changed course, promoting the idea of “common prosperity.” This calls on private firms to be more socially conscious and share the fruits of their success with employees and the nation as a whole.
It largely stemmed from a speech given by Ma in 2020 which criticized Chinese regulators. This, in turn, led to the halting of Ma’s fintech company Ant’s IPO in 2020 and his subsequent withdrawal from public life. But China’s ailing economy, geopolitical tensions and the turbocharged tariffs strategy of President Trump appears to have led to change in plan.
China Needs Another Tech Boost
In previous meetings, as reported by the Financial Times, Xi has used these meetings to promise tax cuts and a level playing field between private and state enterprises. Any sign that he intends to do so again at this meeting will give a boost to Chinese tech stocks and ambitions and send a chill to U.S. rivals particularly in the battle for AI leadership. “The meeting’s purpose is to tell the private sector, ‘We want to support you, we need you to boost tech innovation and consumption,'” said Zhang Xiaoyan, professor of finance at Tsinghua University, as reported by the Financial Times.
Other entrepreneurs in attendance included Lei Jun, chief of smartphone and EV maker Xiaomi, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, Unitree founder Wang Xingxing, Meituan boss Wang Xing, Tencent (TCEHY) chief Pony Ma, Wang Chuanfu, chair of electric vehicle maker BYD (BYDDY) and artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng. However, according to reports there was no place at the table for Baidu (BIDU) founder Robin Li and JD.com (JD) boss Richard Liu.
Is BABA a Good Stock to Buy?
On TipRanks, BABA has a Strong Buy consensus based on 10 Buy and 1 Hold rating. Its highest price target is $150. BABA stock’s consensus price target is $122.91 implying an 1.46% downside.
