Summary: Questions have been asked about Alibaba long before news broke that Jack Ma might be leaving soon. We got in on the question-asking game, as we quizzed Alibaba bear Anne Stevenson-Yang about what the short case around the company really is, and Alibaba bull Julian Lin about the reasons to stay long. There was more overlap in the two discussions than we expected. Topics covered: Interview with Anne Stevenson-Yang from 2:15-33:15 3:00 minute mark - Why do Alibaba’s different businesses go together? 5:00 – Alibaba as representative of China – how important is that? 8:00 – How is this climate different from the 2009-2011 period in China? 10:15 – What about BABA’s Q1 and continued revenue growth? 14:00 – Where to look closest at BABA to understand the company 16:00 – The Tencent (TCEHY) or BABA blessing 18:00 - Alibaba's presence on the ground 21:00 - Is there a catalyst to a short case? 22:00 - What is causing skepticism in China? 24:30 - Is there a bullish case for China out there? 26:00 - The definition of a Chinese financial crisis and is it going to happen? 27:30 - What are we still not understanding about China? 30:00 - The similarity between the bubbly start-up climate and China Interview with Julian Lin from 34:45-1:28:00 36:00 - How do Alibaba’s different businesses go together? 38:30 – Compare and contrast China vs. US 44:30 – Alibaba’s complexity and the Alipay incident 49:30 – The importance of returning cash to shareholders 51:00 – Thoughts on Jack Ma in general 55:50 – what incentive does BABA have to pay a dividend or start a buyback? 1h00m – Alibaba’s valuation vs. US peers 1:04 – Does Alibaba grow its profit and dominance the way Amazon and Facebook do? 1:09 – What is Julian’s investing style and how does Alibaba fit in? 1:13 – Jack Ma leaving? What do you think? 1:16 – Diving back into the accounting 1:24 – What about Alibaba’s disclosures?
