The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, co-founded by Jack Ma, saw its shares drop 9.4%, after the arrest of a person named Ma on national security grounds.
According to the state-run China Television (CCTV), the suspect has been under compulsory measures since April 25, on suspicion of collusion with anti-Chinese forces abroad, in order to incite on secession and incitement to undermine the authority of the state.
According to CNN, a one-line report that was quickly picked up by other state media and circulated on Chinese news platforms sparked panic selling in Hong Kong, wiping out an estimated $26 billion from Alibaba's market value within minutes.
In the midst of these events, the former editor-in-chief of the state-owned nationalist Global Times, Hu Shijin, was quick to point out that the report was misleading because the suspect's name consisted of 3 Characters While Jack Ma's Chinese name consists of only two characters.
Later, Chinese TV updated the original story to align with the newspaper, which led to the stock rebounding and the company recovering most of its losses by the end of the day.
