Comment by crop_rotation

The media and HN seem to be seeing this as a AT&T style breakup, which is not. It is starting with an Alphabet style restructuring, which sounds big in theory but nothing big might happen in practice. The biggest unit (Taobao/Tmall) will be fully owned by Alibaba and would not seek any external investment (Taobao/Tmall is responsible for >70% of their profits). The new Unit CEOs were not even invited to speak at the announcement. Even if all the new Units sell 10-20% stock to the market, would it really change too many things? It will all depend on how the CCP wants the breakup to play out.