JD.com hits 4-mth high as chairman pledges no price war in hospitality push

Investing.com -- Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, has reportedly resigned from the ice cream company, stating he could no longer "in good conscience" remain with a business that had been "silenced" by parent company Unilever.

In a letter reported by the Financial Times, Greenfield cited the erosion of the brand’s independence as the primary reason for his departure, despite a merger agreement that was designed to protect the company’s social mission.

"That independence existed in no small part because of the unique merger agreement" that he and fellow co-founder Ben Cohen had negotiated, Greenfield wrote in his letter.

He expressed deep disappointment about the current situation, adding: "It’s profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone."

The resignation marks a significant moment in the relationship between the socially conscious ice cream brand and Unilever, which acquired Ben & Jerry’s while supposedly maintaining provisions for the brand’s independent social advocacy.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Investing.com-- Shares of Urban Company Ltd (NSE:URBN) surged over 70% on their market debut on Wednesday, after the Indian home-services platform’s initial public offering drew heavy demand from investors.

The stock opened at 162.25 rupees on the National Stock Exchange, compared with its issue price of 103 rupees.

The stock jumped as much as 74% to 179 rupees in the early hours and was trading at 170.4 rupees as of 10:22 IST (04:52 GMT).

Urban Company raised 19 billion rupees ($216 million) in the IPO, which comprised a fresh issue of shares as well as an offer for sale by existing investors. The issue was oversubscribed more than 100 times.

The strong listing comes as Urban Company reported a sharp improvement in its financial performance, with revenue rising more than 35% year-on-year in the year to March 2025 and the firm turning profitable, media reports showed.

The bumper debut reflected optimism around India’s expanding consumer services market.

Investing.com-- Baidu Inc shares surged on Wednesday, lifted by growing investor confidence in its home-grown AI chip efforts as China accelerates its drive toward semiconductor independence.

The rally follows reports that Baidu has begun using its internally developed Kunlun P800 chip to train versions of its Ernie large language models, partly displacing reliance on Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) chips.

The surge was also attributed to Baidu’s AI-focused deal with state-owned China Merchants Group (HK:3968) to apply AI across transportation, finance, and property sectors.

Hong Kong-listed shares of the company surged as much as 17% to HK$131.9 on Wednesday, reaching their highest level in nearly a year.

The stock jumped nearly 20% last week, when reports emerged, while it has gained more than 40% so far this month.

Adding to the upbeat sentiment, a Bloomberg report showed that analysts at Arete Research Services upgraded their rating on Baidu’s American depositary receipts to "buy" from "sell", ending the sole sell recommendation it had maintained since last May.

The chip strategy reinforces China’s tech self-sufficiency drive amid U.S. chip export controls. Chinese regulators have discouraged the use of Nvidia’s H20 chips, in a bid to boost their domestic chipmaking.

Investing.com-- Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) (NYSE:BABA) shares rose sharply in Hong Kong trade on Wednesday, buoyed by reports of more progress in China’s homegrown AI chip ambitions, while speculation over founder Jack Ma’s return also helped. 

Alibaba shares rose 4.8% to HK$160.10 to their highest level since November 2021. They helped underpin a 1.5% spike in the Hang Seng index. 

Chinese media reported on Wednesday that a major upcoming data center from China Unicom– the Sanjiangyuan data center– had signed contracts to deploy AI chips from several Chinese firms, including Alibaba’s chip unit T-Head, Biren Technology, and Zhonghao Xinying. 

Separately, Bloomberg reported late Tuesday that Alibaba founder Jack Ma had become the most involved in the company since 2020, after largely disappearing from the public eye during China’s antitrust crackdown on internet giants. 

The report came as Ma made several appearances at Alibaba’s campuses, fuelling speculation that he was poised to return in a more official capacity to the e-commerce giant. Ma’s return is being touted as a sign that Beijing is loosening its grip on its internet giants, after a debilitating antitrust crackdown in the early 2020s. 

Alibaba is currently run by two of Ma’s longest-serving lieutenants, Joe Tsai and Eddie Wu. 

Another report showed China’s biggest chipmakers were testing advanced production tools aimed at creating artificial intelligence processors– a trend that could further Alibaba’s own plans for in-house AI chips. 

The company was seen benefiting from its AI ambitions in recent quarterly reports, with its cloud business logging much stronger top-line earnings. But this was offset by substantially higher expenses on AI development, as well as laggard e-commerce earnings amid stiff competition and sluggish consumer spending. 

Focus is now squarely on whether Alibaba and its Chinese internet peers can wean off their dependence on U.S.-made AI chips, which have become subject to increasing scrutiny from Beijing. 

While Alibaba had trained a bulk of its models on Nvidia’s H20 chips, recent reports showed the company seeking more in-house or locally built alternatives. 

The China Unicom data center could also serve as a major test for Alibab’s chip ambitions.