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☆ A Swashbuckling Tale of Mutiny Took Him Where ‘the Soul of Man Dies’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Alexandra Alter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Often, his stories take a dizzying turn when Grann introduces a new set of facts or a perspective that undermines the narrative he has presented. Rather than trying to lay down a concrete version of events, Grann often invokes a queasy uncertainty that the truth can ever be known. He’s drawn to unsolvable mysteries and stories that explore the fallibility of our perceptions — including his own. “He looked for stories in which an artful manipulation of the reader was an appropriate way to illuminate the story,” said Daniel Zalewski, Grann’s longtime editor at The New Yorker. “Sometimes they were dark entertainments, but because the stakes were real, there was a gravity to them, and a morality to them.”

☆ Alibaba shows off its generative AI tech, to roll out in all apps
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Josh Horwitz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Called Tongyi Qianwen, the AI large language model drafted invitation letters, planned trip itineraries and advised shoppers on types of makeup to purchase in a filmed demonstration. Tongyi Qianwen will initially be integrated into DingTalk, Alibaba's workplace messaging app and can be used to summarise meeting notes, write emails and draft business proposals. AI models like Tongyi Qianwen are "the big picture for making AI more popular in the future," he added. On Monday, Chinese AI company SenseTime (0200.HK) unveiled a slew of new AI products including a chatbot called SenseChat. Zhang said that Alibaba and other companies working on AI models were at the "starting line" of a new phenomenon.

☆ Alibaba unveils Tongyi Qianwen, an AI model similar to GPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Josh Horwitz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] The logo of Alibaba Group is seen at its office in Beijing, China, January 5, 2021. REUTERS/Thomas PeterSHANGHAI, April 11 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK) on Tuesday unveiled Tongyi Qianwen, an AI large language model similar to GPT that it plans to integrate into all of the company's business applications in the near future. Alibaba Cloud plans to open Tongyi Qianwen to its clients so they can build their own customized large language models. Others including Alphabet Inc's Google (GOOGL.O) and Baidu Inc (9888.HK) have since promoted their AI models and released similar chatbots. Tongyi Qianwen is based on Tongyi, Alibaba's proprietary pre-trained model framework that unifies various AI models.

☆ Alibaba to roll out its rival to ChatGPT across all its products
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

In this article BABA Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTAlibaba Cloud, the cloud computing subsidiary of Alibaba, unveiled its ChatGPT-style product Tongyi Qianwen during the 2023 Alibaba Cloud Summit on Tuesday morning. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesStock Chart Icon Stock chart icon Alibaba set to release its rival to ChatGPTAt the 2023 Alibaba Cloud Summit, the company said it will be rolling out the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot into all Alibaba products from enterprise communication to e-commerce in "the near future." It did not reveal a timeline. "We are at a technological watershed moment driven by generative AI and cloud computing, and businesses across all sectors have started to embrace intelligence transformation to stay ahead of the game," said Daniel Zhang, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, in a statement. Alibaba first told CNBC it was working on a ChatGPT rival in February.

☆ Alibaba unveils Tongyi Qianwen, its AI-powered answer to ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Hong Kong CNN —Alibaba showed off its answer to the ChatGPT craze on Tuesday, demonstrating new software that it plans to eventually roll out across all its platforms. The Chinese tech giant unveiled Tongyi Qianwen, a large language model that will be embedded in its Tmall Genie smart speakers and workplace messaging platform DingTalk. Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang speaking Tuesday as the Chinese tech giant showed off its answer to the ChatGPT craze, demonstrating new software it plans to integrate across its enterprise and consumer platforms. In draft guidelines issued Tuesday to solicit public feedback, the country’s cyberspace regulator said generative AI services would be required to undergo security reviews before they can operate. Most of those units, including its cloud services business that oversees AI projects, will be authorized to raise capital and pursue public listings.

☆ The resilient job market is finally showing signs of cooling off
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The job market is clearly starting to slow down. Mohamed El-Erian said March's jobs report was a win-win for both the stock market and the Fed. "We are making this transition where the stock market was obsessed with interest-rate risk to one that is concerned about credit risk." What's your take on the latest job data? In other news:Traders works on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 5, 2020.

☆ The rise of remote work helped a former teacher with $80,000 in student debt switch to her dream job and get a $20,000 pay raise without moving
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Jackie Carbo thought her dream job in tech wasn't reachable, and she had more than $80,000 in student debt. But the rise of remote work made it possible for her to make a higher-paying career shift. The geographic flexibility is among the reasons researchers cite when explaining a correlation they have found between remote work and happier employees. She even decided to start a blog to document her travels and share tips about how to balance working remotely with traveling. Has remote work helped change your life?

☆ ‘We’re at a tipping point:’ What to expect from the jobs report
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Minneapolis CNN —The US labor market has kept trucking right along even as other areas of the economy have slowed. ET Friday when the Bureau of Labor Statistics drops the heavily anticipated jobs report for March. On Wednesday, the latest private-sector jobs report from payroll processor ADP came in at 145,000 for March, landing below expectations. There still remains uncertainty about the extent to which those and other layoffs may ripple through the broader labor market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release its March jobs report at 8:30 a.m.

☆ The job market is clearly starting to slow down
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The US added 236,000 jobs in March less than the revised gain for February. The job gain in March was also below February's revised gain. While the payroll gain in March was below February's job creation, the labor market is still showing some strength, according to today's report and Job Openings and Labor Turnover data. Job openings tumbled by 632,000 in February to 9.9 million. However, the level is still above the 7 million openings in February 2020 before the pandemic.

☆ Black Americans are more likely to be working than white Americans for the first time on record
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Jason Lalljee | Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In March, the Black employment-population ratio was above the white employment-population ratio for the first time since at least 1972. The unemployment rate for Black Americans also hit a record low of 5.0% in March. The employment-population ratio measures the share of a group that has a job, meaning that for the first time on record, Black Americans are more likely to currently be working than white Americans. Additionally, the unemployment rate for Black Americans fell by 0.7 percentage points to 5.0% in March, the lowest rate on record, according to Black unemployment data starting in 1972. Which is what makes March's low unemployment rate for Black Americans, and a higher employment-population ratio than the white employment-population ratio, so novel.

☆ China's Alibaba invites businesses to trial AI chatbot -media
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Alibaba has opened up registration for businesses to conduct testing for its AI application, STAR Market reported without specifying details. Alibaba Cloud did not respond immediately to an emailed request for comment. A formal launch is expected at an Alibaba Cloud event on Tuesday. Others to have joined the AI chatbot race include Baidu Inc (9998.HK), with its Ernie Bot application open only to trial users at the moment. Last week Alibaba announced that it will restructure into six standalone divisions, each with its own board and CEO.

☆ ‘We’re at a tipping point:’ What to expect from the jobs report on Friday
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Minneapolis CNN —The US labor market has kept trucking right along even as other areas of the economy have slowed. Just how much of a shift there is could become even clearer on Friday when the Bureau of Labor Statistics drops the heavily anticipated jobs report for March. On Wednesday, the latest private-sector jobs report from payroll processor ADP came in at 145,000 for March, landing below expectations. There still remains uncertainty about the extent to which those and other layoffs may ripple through the broader labor market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to release its March jobs report on Friday at 8:30 a.m.

HONG KONG, April 6 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Alibaba's (9988.HK) worth may be hiding in plain sight. The $260 billion Chinese group wants to split off faster-growing, money-losing bets like its cloud and logistics units. It accounted for 9% of Alibaba's top line in the nine months to December, nearly double five years ago. Zhang would do well to focus investor attention back onto Alibaba's commerce operations in China. That’s some 30% more than the company’s entire market value as of Wednesday.

☆ Remote workers are clinging to work-from-home jobs, even if they aren't that happy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Joe, 37, is torn between leaving his job and clinging to the flexibility of remote work. Many remote workers like him have gotten used to the WFH lifestyle, and built lives around it. With remote job openings tapering off, more remote workers may be inclined to stay put. Even before the pandemic, remote workers tended to be happier and stay at their jobs longer than on-site workers. The share of remote postings could fall to 10% by the end of 2023, Stanford economist and leading work-from-home researcher Nick Bloom told Insider.

☆ The job market is cooling but remains 'red hot,' economist says. What to expect as a job seeker
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The job market continued a gradual cooling in February but largely remains advantageous for workers, according to labor data issued Tuesday. There were about 1.7 job openings per unemployed worker, the lowest ratio since November 2021. Prior to 2021, job openings had never before reached 8 million. "The job market is cooling," said Daniel Zhao, lead economist at Glassdoor, a career site. Indeed, by any measure, the job market is hotter than it was in 2019 — which itself was known as a job seeker's market characterized by factors such as low unemployment and strong wage growth, Zhao said.

☆ Jack Ma Engineered Alibaba’s Breakup From Overseas
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Jing Yang | Shen Lu | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—Chinese billionaire Jack Ma was orchestrating from overseas the corporate breakup of the e-commerce empire he built, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. , according to people familiar with the matter. Despite having stepped down as executive chairman of Alibaba in 2019, Mr. Ma remained an influential figure at the company and is active in deciding its strategy, the people said. In recent months, he held calls with Alibaba’s top executives, including the current chairman and chief executive Daniel Zhang , urging them to split up the company, saying it would make it more nimble and competitive in China’s increasingly crowded market, the people said.

☆ Alibaba restructuring to enhance decision-making, CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Trader works at the post where Alibaba is traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 28, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidSHANGHAI/HONG KONG, March 30 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group's (9988.HK) restructuring will allow all its business units to become more agile and enhance faster decision-making and responses to market changes, the tech conglomerate's chief executive Daniel Zhang said on Thursday. The restructuring also opens up the possibility for each unit to raise funds through its own initial public offering (IPO). Some analysts say Alibaba is currently undervalued as a standalone conglomerate and a breakup would allow investors to value each business division independently. The restructuring could also better protect Alibaba shareholders from regulatory pressures, as penalties levied on one division in theory would not affect the operations of another, analysts says.

☆ Morning Bid: As banking worries slowly slip into rear view, markets fret on Fed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

But as we are at the 'no news = good news' stage of the recovery from the banking worries, investors are preparing to try again as Europe wakes up with futures indicating a higher open. In a call to discuss the plan to split into six units, Group CEO Daniel Zhang said on Thursday the company's breakup plan will allow its units to become more agile and eventually list on their own. Investors hope the plan will help unlock value for the internet behemoth. Alibaba US shares traders at 11x forward earningsWith fears of a widespread banking crisis easing, investor attention has switched to Fed vs inflation. Meanwhile, the U.S. banking system's top cop said the scope of blame for Silicon Valley Bank's failure stretches across bank executives, Federal Reserve supervisors and other regulators.

☆ Alibaba to decide on control over new business units after IPOs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Zhang's comments come two days after Alibaba announced its largest restructuring in the company's history, which will see it change into a holding company structure with six business units, each with their own boards and CEOs. The business units will have their own CEOs and boards, though Alibaba will retain seats on those boards in the short-term, Zhang added. Alibaba began laying the groundwork for the restructuring a few years ago, Zhang told investors during a conference call, adding the business units could pursue public listings on their own in the future. After these units go public, Alibaba "will continue to evaluate the strategic importance of these companies" and "will decide whether or not to continue to retain control," Alibaba CFO Toby Xu said on the call. Alibaba, however, will decide whether the group wants to keep strategic control of each unit after they go public, Xu said.

☆ Bank relief and Alibaba plans nudge stocks higher
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) gained for a third day in a row, rising 0.3%. It is eyeing two consecutive quarters in the green for the first time since the middle of 2021. The yen last traded at 132.75 to the dollar. Two-year yields are down 30 basis points for the quarter, the first quarterly fall since March 2020. Investors are hoping the plans signal authorities' tacit approval for growth and profit ahead.

☆ Alibaba hands parched dealmakers a glass half-full
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Antony Currie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Then New York- and Hong Kong-listed Alibaba (9988.HK) revealed it was creating six independently run businesses. That will keep dealmaking teams busy for months if, as CEO Daniel Zhang envisions, multiple listed companies emerge from the $250 billion parent. And if a breakup is good for Alibaba, they can dust off pitchbooks for its domestic rivals. Follow @AntonyMCurrie on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSAlibaba CEO Daniel Zhang said on March 29 that he hopes multiple listed companies will emerge from the group. “I hope there will be multiple listed companies emerging from the Alibaba system, and that they will continue to nurture their own sons and daughters, and cultivate more listed companies”, Zhang said, according to the South China Morning Post.

☆ Alibaba tells investors its overhaul will make the business more 'agile' with market changes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Jihye Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

"We believe this will allow all of our businesses to become more agile, enhance their business decision-making, and respond faster to market changes," CEO Daniel Zhang told investors. "Alibaba Group will be in the nature of a holding company that is the controlling shareholder of the business group companies," Zhang said. When asked about the timeline of Alibaba's restructuring, Zhang said the "strategy and business planning for the business groups will commence immediately." CFO Tony Xu said separating Alibaba's entities would allow it to determine the performance of each business. "We believe that the market is the best litmus test so each business group company can pursue independent fundraising and IPOs as and when they are ready after going public," he said.

☆ Alibaba's breakup lifts hopes China's regulatory winter is thawing
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The move represented a light at the end of the tunnel for many investors who had seen a wave of regulatory blitzes as a major cloud hanging over China's private sector. Reuters GraphicsAlibaba said on Tuesday it would split into six units - Cloud Intelligence Group, Taobao Tmall Commerce Group, Local Services Group, Cainiao Smart Logistics Group, Global Digital Commerce Group and Digital Media and Entertainment Group. He was spotted on Monday in Hangzhou, home to Alibaba, just one day before the company announced the restructuring. Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK), China's largest gaming company, saw shares rise as much as 5.1%. Alibaba's split may pave the way for other Chinese tech giants to undergo similar restructuring, CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng said.

☆ Alibaba's breakup plan lifts hopes China's tech crackdown is ending
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The group's Hong Kong-listed shares jumped as much as 16.3%, tracking a 14.3% rally in its U.S.-listed shares overnight . Its e-commerce rival JD.com Inc (9618.HK) rose 7% and gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK) gained 5%. That compared with a 2.3% jump in benchmark Hang Seng Index (.HSI) and a 3.2% gain for the Hang Seng Tech Index (.HSTECH). Brian Tycango, who tracks China's tech sector at Stansberry Research, says that in addition to enabling higher valuations, the restructuring better protects individual divisions from future government regulation. "Any new regulations will likely not affect the whole company now - just the particular division that that regulation covers," Tycango told Reuters.

☆ Alibaba's Hong Kong shares surge 16% on split-up plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 29 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares of Alibaba Group (9988.HK) soared on Wednesday, marking a vote of confidence from investors after the company announced a major restructuring plan. Shares of Alibaba's e-commerce rival JD.com Inc (9618.HK) were up 7%, and gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK) jumped 5% on Wednesday morning. That compared with a 2.3% jump in benchmark Hang Seng Index (.HSI) and a 3.2% gain for the Hang Seng Tech Index (.HSTECH). One day before the re-organization was announced, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, who had been out of mainland China since late 2021, was spotted visiting a primary school in Hangzhou, the city where Alibaba is headquartered. Reporting by Josh Horwitz in Shanghai and Donny Kwok in Hong Kong; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Sam HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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