Alibaba stock spikes after it ups share buyback program to $25

Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed stock surged nearly 9% on Tuesday after the Chinese e-commerce giant said it would increase the size of its share buyback program from $15 billion to $25 billion.

The share repurchase scheme will be effective for a two-year period through March 2024, the company said.

Alibaba has bought back about 56.2 million American depositary shares (ADRs), worth about $9.2 billion, under the previously announced buyback program. ADRs are listed in the U.S. and act as proxies for foreign companies.

The Hangzhou-headquartered e-commerce giant is looking to boost investor confidence as its shares have lost around two-thirds of their value since hitting an all-time high in October 2020.

Alibaba has faced a number of issues including macroeconomic headwinds and continued regulatory tightening from the Chinese government that led authorities to slap the company with a $2.8 billion antitrust fine last year.

China introduced sweeping new rules across the technology industry, often without warning, over the past 14 months. The moves shook investor confidence and wiped billions of dollars of value off the country’s publicly-listed giants.

On Tuesday, Alibaba also appointed Weijian Shan, executive chairman of Hong Kong-headquartered investment group PAG, to the its board as an independent director, effective March 31. Shan will serve on the board’s audit committee. He will replace Börje Ekholm, CEO of the telecommunications equipment giant Ericsson, who will retire from Alibaba’s board.