Cathie Wood drops $12 million on resurgent tech giant

Core Insights - Cathie Wood, founder of ARK Invest, is known for her contrarian investment strategies, having previously backed companies like Tesla and Coinbase during challenging times [1] - Wood is now focusing on Alibaba, which is expected to be one of the surprising tech comeback stories of 2025, supported by significant investments and strategic initiatives [2] Investment Strategy - ARK Invest has been transparent in its trading activities, which enhances liquidity in growth stocks, and this strategy is now applied to Alibaba [2] - On October 15, 2025, ARK Invest purchased an additional $12.3 million in Alibaba shares across multiple ETFs, indicating a strong commitment to the company's recovery [6] Alibaba's Growth Drivers - Alibaba has committed 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) through 2028 towards AI and cloud infrastructure, positioning itself as a major player in industrial-scale data [3] - The company has shown capital discipline by retiring $11.9 billion in stock in fiscal 2025, reducing its share count by 5% and streamlining its operational structure [4] - In the June quarter, Alibaba's Cloud revenue increased by 26% year over year to 33.4 billion yuan ($4.7 billion), with AI-product sales experiencing triple-digit growth for seven consecutive quarters [5] Market Momentum - Alibaba's Quick Commerce initiative aims for 1 trillion yuan in incremental GMV, serving as a significant long-term growth catalyst [5] - Following a period of regulatory challenges, Alibaba's strategy for 2025 appears to focus on reinvention rather than mere recovery, attracting interest from institutional investors like ARK [5]