An escalating fight between the US and China for technological dominance has triggered one of the most stunning reversals of corporate strategy yet: On Thursday, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. walked back plans to spin off and list its $11 billion cloud business.
Chairman Joseph Tsai and Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu, two of Alibaba-founder Jack Ma’s longest-standing lieutenants, said China’s e-commerce and internet computing leader needed a strategy “reset.” Wu explained in his first public remarks since taking the helm that the US’s ever-increasing restrictions on chip sales to China has forced the company to rethink its plan to break up the empire Ma spent decades amassing into six parts. Alibaba also said it’s suspending a listing for the popular grocery business Freshippo.
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