Investor Ryan Cohen builds Alibaba stake, pushes for more buybacks

In his communications, Cohen told Alibaba he thought the company could reach double-digit sales growth and nearly 20% free cashflow growth over the coming five years, according to sources. — Bloomberg

NEW YORK: Billionaire investor Ryan Cohen has built a stake in China’s Alibaba Group worth hundreds of millions of dollars and is pushing the eCommerce giant to increase and speed up share buybacks, people familiar with the matter say.

Cohen, who built his fortune by co-founding online pet retailer Chewy Inc and cemented it with investments in video-game retailer GameStop and Apple Inc, reached out to Alibaba last August to express concerns, the people said.