Alibaba shares plunge as much as 10% after canceling plans to spin off cloud unit

Shares of Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding plunged as much as 10% in New York after it said Thursday it scrapped plans to spin off its cloud business because of uncertainties related to U.S. chip restrictions. The Hangzhou-based firm said that a spinoff of its cloud unit “may not achieve the intended effect of shareholder value enhancement." Alibaba also said that it is putting on hold plans to list its supermarket chain Freshippo. The move is a sharp reversal from its plans following a massive restructuring earlier this year which split the firm into six major businesses. At the time, Alibaba said that the business units would eventually be able to raise capital and go public individually as that would maximize value for shareholders.