Alibaba’s leadership reshuffle; new Bolivian lithium plants; Google looks to India

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Alibaba shares drift 1.5% on shake-up at the top

Chinese ecommerce titan Alibaba [9988.HK] today announced a surprise c-suite reshuffle, effective September: Daniel Zhang will be replaced as CEO by Eddie Wu, one of Alibaba’s co-founders and current chairman of the Taobao and Tmall domestic e-commerce wing, while Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai will replace Zhang as group chairman. This move will allow Zhang to concentrate on running the Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group. Alibaba's Hong Kong shares sunk 1.5% on the news.

CATL to dive into Bolivian lithium

The Andean nation of Bolivia possesses the biggest known lithium deposits in the world, but has so far failed to leverage this. Things are about to change, however: Bolivia’s Ministry of Hydrocarbons and Energy announced that a Chinese consortium headed by Contemporary Amperex Technology [300750.SZ] aims to spend some $1.4bn on extraction plants in the country. The new facilities will be able to produce about 200,000 tons of lithium a year, while the investment could eventually top $9.9bn.

Hyundai ramps up EVs; Suzuki takes to the skies

 Over the next ten years, Hyundai [005380.KS] is to invest approximately 109.4trn won ($85.5bn), a third of which will be channelled towards the “seismic change” in the automotive industry, namely the rise of the electric vehicle (EV). The South Korean carmaker says EVs will account for 75% of its US production in by 2030 — up from 0.7%. Earlier today, Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp [7269.T] announced that it will partner with SkyDrive Inc to start producing “flying cars” by next spring.

Will the EU squash Adobe’s $20bn takeover of Figma?

 Impelled by competition concerns, the EU is to launch a formal investigation into Adobe’s [ADBE] $20bn buyout of designer platform Figma. Authorities in both the UK and the US have already got their hackles up over the deal, over concerns that big tech could squash competition by swallowing innovative start-ups. For its part, the software giant has said that it is in the preliminary stages of the regulatory process. Figma has told Reuters it is in dialogue with regulators.

Google follows Apple to India

Alphabet’s Google [GOOGL] looks set to follow in Apple’s [AAPL] footsteps, by diversifying away from China and sourcing suppliers in India. Bloomberg reported that Google is in talks with companies including Lava International and Dixon Technologies India [DIXON.NS], all of which have benefitted from PM Modi’s production-linked financial incentives. This month several high-level Google execs have paid a visit to the country, among them Ana Corrales, chief operating officer of consumer hardware, and Maggie Wei, senior director of global sustaining product operations.