Alibaba reported Q4 results. Revenue was 243.4 billion yuan, up 3% from last year but slightly missing the 247.1 billion expected. The stock fell about 2% in premarket trading. There is a clear split in the numbers. The cloud and AI division is doing well, with cloud revenue up 38% and AI product revenue reaching 9 billion yuan. On the downside, overall profit dropped significantly. Adjusted EBITA fell 84% to 5.1 billion yuan, and they posted their first operating loss since 2021. This is mainly because they are spending heavily to build out AI infrastructure and subsidize a quick commerce price war against JD.com and Meituan. The market seems concerned about whether Alibaba can afford to fund both the delivery war and the AI buildout without keeping earnings depressed for a while.