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Alibaba has staged a quiet $100 billion rally — AI and Jack Ma’s return are at the heart of it

In November 2023, Jack Ma posted an internal memo at Alibaba, urging the e-commerce giant he helped create to “correct its course.” The message was as a rallying cry by one of China’s most prominent tech leaders to a company going through one of the most tumultuous times in its history.

Alibaba’s share price was near record lows, growth was stalling amid intensifying competition, management changes were coming thick and fast, and Beijing was still closely scrutinizing the company. Ma himself was barely in the public view.

But his message may have instilled some new hope in Alibaba — the e-commerce giant is now seeing growth in its core business and has become one of the leading artificial intelligence players in China and globally, competing with the likes of OpenAI and DeepSeek. And Alibaba is now back in favor with the Chinese government.

Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares have quietly risen nearly 60% this year, adding more than $100 billion to the company’s valuation.

“China tech has awoken being led by Alibaba and investors globally are viewing this as the best way to way China tech ... and we agree. Alibaba is in pole position to benefit from AI and cloud spend,” Dan Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities, told CNBC.

CNBC spoke to Alibaba’s chairman as well as a former executive and analysts, who painted a picture of the changes at the tech firm that have led to the start of the company’s comeback.