Shuli Ren, Columnist

Alibaba Goes Bottom Fishing But Suning Might Be a Red Herring

Jack Ma’s e-commerce giant may think that expanding its stake in the online retailer is a strategic move but distressed assets are cheap for a reason.

June 30, 2021 at 10:30 PM UTC

By Shuli Ren

Shuli Ren is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian markets. A former investment banker, she was a markets reporter for Barron’s. She is a CFA charterholder.

Suning’s headquarters in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.
Photographer: STR/AFP

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What’s harder? Spotting a unicorn in a dense forest or pulling one away from the cliff? Or, in less pictorial terms, venture capital or investing in promising but distressed assets?

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which built a sprawling consumer tech empire through lots of equity investments, will soon find out as it increases its stake in the online retailer Suning.com Co. Ltd.