Why Did Alibaba Shares Fall Today?

State-owned Bauhinia Culture (Hong Kong) Holdings Ltd is eying to acquire Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's BABA owned South China Morning Post English-language newspaper, Bloomberg reports.
Founded in 1903, SCMP was once one of the most profitable newspapers globally, boosted by a large classified job-advertisement section.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch acquired control of SCMP in 1986 before selling his stake to Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok in 1993.
SCMP changed hands again in 2015 when Alibaba agreed to buy it in a HK$2.06 billion ($265 million) deal.
Alibaba is under pressure from the Chinese government to divest some of its media assets, including SCMP, Hong Kong's influential newspaper.
Deliberations are ongoing, and other state-backed entities could also consider submitting offers for SCMP, Bloomberg added.
"There has never been any discussion about SCMP's ownership, and Alibaba has no plans for any change. There's no basis for any rumor or speculation," Alibaba's co-founder and SCMP's chairman Joe Tsai said, Reuters reports.
In October, China's top economic planner proposed to bar private capital from news operations. The restrictions, which would apply only to domestic investments, come months after Beijing expressed concerns about Alibaba's controversial handling of a scandal involving one of its executives.
Price Action: BABA shares closed lower by 3.68% at $158.73 on Friday.

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