Alibaba's 107% surge hasn't rubbed off on its movie business

Jack Ma’s flagship firm may be one of the best-performing Chinese stocks this year, but the same can’t be said of his loss-making film and TV business.

Alibaba Pictures Group Ltd. has fallen almost 10 per cent in the past week in Hong Kong, bringing the shares to their lowest point since March 2014. The company -- which runs an online cinema ticket venture as well as investing in Chinese and foreign movies -- is down 7.9 per cent this year. Its parent, meanwhile, has rallied 107 per cent.

This week’s slump may been triggered by news of management shifts at Alibaba Group’s culture and entertainment unit, though that won’t have much real impact, according to Kevin Leung at Haitong International Securities Co. Alibaba Pictures has posted losses in five of the past six halves, and in October the stock formed a “Death Cross” -- an ominously named technical move that signals further equity declines could be imminent.



And it seems not even Ma could stave off this week’s slump. The Alibaba Group founder reportedly made his film debut on Nov. 11, in a 20-minute short from Alibaba Pictures about martial arts.