The first lockup of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA shares are going to expire today post the closing, which will make an extra 437 million shares available for trade.
Edmund Lee, Re/code managing editor, was on CNBC Wednesday to discuss Alibaba's lockup expiration and
Sentiment Has Cooled
"There's negative sentiment, I mean of course whenever the lock-up ends there is always going to be activity, there is always going to be volume and I think that a lot of people are just going to arbitrage against that and that's just a smart day play for sure," Lee said. "But longer-term…yes sentiment around it has cooled a little bit largely because China itself as an economy is switching from an export economy to a consumer economy."
He continued, "That shift hasn't happened fully yet, so a lot of infrastructure spending around there, a lot of the housing starts out there, there have entire towns that are built that are empty you know. They are waiting for that consumer sort of thing to rise hasn't quite happened yet that might be affecting a lot of companies in China."
Jack Ma Is A Lot Like Jeff Bezos
Lee was asked about the strategy that Alibaba's founder, Jack Ma, seems to be following. He replied, "He is frankly kind of a mystery. He plays it close to the vest, he doesn't [telegraph] a lot and I think that's part of his strategy frankly. He doesn't want too much out there, he doesn't want people knowing his strategy by any means."
"He definitely is a long-term vision player that way he is lot like a Jeff Bezos, if you think about it and so if you are going to buy into Alibaba, you want to buy it long-term, you are not buying for the day or the week," Lee concluded.
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