After State Media reports, Alibaba’s stock drops and then recovers

Alibaba shares plummeted as much as 9% on Tuesday following a state media story that Chinese authorities had taken action against a man called Ma, but recovered losses after the report was altered to clarify that the man in question was not the company’s founder.

The Chinese state broadcaster CCTV initially stated that officials in Hangzhou, Alibaba’s headquarters, had taken action against an individual surnamed Ma, whose name was made up of two Chinese characters, who was suspected of utilising the internet to participate in actions damaging national security.