Alibaba Slides 4.9% to 16-Month Low; 33% YTD Decline after AI Harvesting Claims
BABA•Alibaba shares plunged 4.9% to a 16-month low, extending the year's decline to 33% after Anthropic accused the company of illicitly harvesting 28.8 million Claude AI conversations. Nomura cut its 2027 EBITA forecast by 15% following an 8% drop in June 18 shopping festival e-commerce revenue and escalating regulatory risks.
1. Stock Performance
Alibaba shares plunged 4.9% to a 16-month low in Hong Kong trading, extending a 33% year-to-date slide after dropping 3% on U.S. listings. The selloff spread to Baidu and Xiaomi, both falling over 3%, reflecting wider pressure on Chinese AI-linked names.
2. Allegations by Anthropic
Anthropic accused Alibaba of illicitly harvesting 28.8 million Claude AI conversations through industrial-scale ‘distillation’, where outputs from a more powerful model are used to train a smaller one. The accusation, detailed in letters to U.S. officials, involves operators linked to Alibaba’s Qwen AI lab.
3. Analyst Forecast Revisions
Nomura analysts reported that China’s June 18 shopping festival saw an 8% drop in core e-commerce revenue, versus flat expectations, and cut Alibaba’s 2027 EBITA forecast by 15%. The downgrade comes amid sluggish domestic consumption and a sector rotation into hardware and semiconductors.
