Why I bought Alibaba during May 2020
This post was originally published on my old finance blog in January 2021. Transferred here as I am no longer maintaining that site.
In May 2020, most of the world was in some form of lockdown. Universities everywhere had pivoted to online learning almost overnight, and international students who had gone home were trying to study remotely.
One group had a particular problem: students in China.
The Great Firewall of China creates significant friction for accessing international internet services — slow streaming, blocked platforms, unreliable downloads. For students suddenly trying to access university learning management systems, video lectures, and research databases hosted outside China, this was a genuine obstacle.
Around that time, Alibaba launched a VPN Gateway service designed specifically for this use case. Universities could connect to it and their students in China could access learning resources with far less disruption. It was a practical solution to a real and immediate problem.
I do not have data on how many universities adopted it. But the logic was clear enough for me to act on: a company with Alibaba’s infrastructure, solving a problem that had just become urgent for millions of students, during a period when the stock had pulled back with the broader market.
I bought Alibaba (9988.HK) in May 2020.
Since then I have not sold any of my position. Instead I have been adding during the periods of weakness — including during the regulatory pressure and the “vanishing act” period when sentiment around Chinese tech stocks was at its most negative.
The thesis has not changed. The price has moved around. I am still holding.
This is not financial advice. Just a record of one trade and the thinking behind it.
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