Alibaba: A Cloud with a Silver Lining?

Alibaba’s cloud intelligence division, a surprisingly literal description, managed a 36% growth spurt this quarter. This is, on the face of it, encouraging. However, overall net income experienced a rather precipitous decline – 66%, to be precise. This isn’t necessarily a sign of impending doom (though one should always keep a small emergency raft handy), but rather a consequence of a strategic pivot. A pivot, in this context, involving substantial investment in technology, improved user experiences, and a rather brisk pace of commerce. (One wonders if the commerce is actually brisk, or merely appears brisk due to a cleverly designed illusion of speed. The universe is full of such things.)





