FIVE THINGS LEARNED ABOUT ALIBABA SINCE IPO

Now that China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has been trading in New York for a year, here are five things investors have learned about the e-commerce giant.

No sure thing

The initial euphoria surrounding Hangzhou-based Alibaba was so intense that within two months of the IPO, its market capitalization shot up to $294 billion (U.S.) — more than what Facebook Inc. is valued at today.

Then the stock began its long descent, losing $150 billion in market value by late September 2015, becoming the biggest destructor of shareholder wealth during the period.

Battered with lawsuits and challenges in dealing with counterfeits, the company isn’t the can’t-miss stock people originally thought.

Things are looking up lately, though, with the stock headed for its biggest monthly gain since its trading debut just over a year ago.

As China goes, so goes Alibaba

With more than 82 per cent of its revenue coming from China, Alibaba is highly sensitive to the country’s economy, which is headed for its slowest pace of growth in a quarter-century.

To cope with a slowing home market, the company has been trying to diversify by aggressively expanding in places such as Russia and Brazil.

Jack’s still in charge

When billionaire Jack Ma stepped down as chief executive officer of Alibaba in 2013, he said he wanted to focus more on the environment and philanthropy.

He may have given up the title but there’s no question who calls the shots in Hangzhou. The former English teacher is still the face of the company — he accompanied President Xi Jinping to the U.S. and U.K. recently — and writes the letters addressed to shareholders in Alibaba’s financial reports.

Branching out

The company has been trying to push beyond e-commerce, acquiring stakes in football teams, movie studios and health-care companies — $14.8 billion of transactions have been announced this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The idea is for Alibaba to evolve beyond e-commerce and muscle into areas such as movies and sports, payment systems, operating systems and cloud computing. The question is whether investors will bear through the acquisition spree.

Investors third

Speaking of investors, Ma wasn’t kidding when he told prospective shareholders in 2014 that employees and customers were more important than Wall Street. Alibaba has taken good care of its staff, doling out almost 4 billion yuan (about $830 million Canadian) in the quarter ended June.