LONDON – Ms Cathie Wood’s funds reopened positions in Alibaba for the first time in four years, just as the stock rallied to a multi-year high on optimism over the Chinese firm’s push in artificial intelligence.
A daily trading report from Ms Wood’s Ark Investment Management showed that two of the firm’s exchange-traded funds (ETFs) snapped up American depositary receipts (ADRs) of Alibaba on Sept 22.
The stakes are worth about US$16.3 million (S$20.9 million) in total, according to the funds’ holdings reports.
Alibaba ADRs on Sept 23 touched the highest levels since November 2021, having almost doubled year-to-date.
Investors are ramping up bets that the internet giant’s AI push could reinvigorate growth, after its core e-commerce business gets pinched by increased competition from rivals including PDD.
Ark’s first investments in Alibaba can be traced back to 2014, shortly after the company’s initial public offering that year, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) search tool.
But no investment or proxy voting record could be found after September 2021, when the firm was in the centre of a sweeping regulatory crackdown.
The latest investment could mark a return for Ark after limiting its holdings in Chinese internet stocks since the sector’s meltdown in 2021 and 2022.
Earlier in 2025, it started building a position in Baidu, SEC’s records showed. It snapped up more shares in the search engine operator on Sept 22, bringing the overall position to about US$47 million.
Ark’s ETFs also invest in electric vehicle maker BYD, autonomous driving technology firm Pony AI and JD Logistics, though these stakes are relatively small.
Ms Wood has been widely known for her aggressive bets on disruptive technologies, and achieved outsized gains from her flagship Ark Innovation fund in 2020.
While the fund’s 49 per cent return in 2025 is far ahead of the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100, it is down on a five-year basis, and has suffered an outflow of US$438 million in 2025, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. BLOOMBERG