A lot has changed since we last talked about Tencent and Alibaba. China’s technology index has fallen by more than 60% from its peak. Tencent has fallen by 55% while Alibaba has fallen by more than 70%. Could this be an attractive opportunity for investors?
Alibaba’s and Tencent’s investing
Alibaba’s and Tencent’s investing are interesting and big parts of their businesses, but they are often not talked about.
Source: Annual report and 10K
This chart shows each company’s percentage of cash from operations spent on investment. Tencent uses almost all its cash flow from operations to invest in other companies. Alibaba is not too far behind at 86%. Investment is clearly very important for them, with both companies ranking high amongst other global big tech companies in terms of investment expenditure.
Tencent’s business and investment strategy
Tencent’s core engine is its communication services like Wechat and QQ. The core engine does not make it money....