Alibaba said on Tuesday it will increase the size of its share buyback program from $15 billion to $25 billion, effective for a two-year period through March 2024.
The Chinese e-commerce giant’s Hong Kong-listed stock surged more than 11%.
Alibaba appointed Weijian Shan, executive chairman of investment group PAG, to the its board as an independent director, replacing Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm.
Russia’s technology regulatory agency restricted access to the social media platform Instagram.
The move comes after its parent Meta decided to allow posts from users in some countries calling for violence against Russia and its military.
The policy allows Instagram and Facebook users in Russia, Ukraine and Poland to call for the death of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Russia already blocked access in the country to Facebook on March 4 and has restricted access to Twitter.
An SEC filing late Friday revealed the purchases were made on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at prices between $51.03 and $58.58. The weighted average of the buys is around $56.60.
That gives Berkshire a total of 118.3 million shares that are worth almost $6.9 billion at Friday’s close of $57.95.
ADRs are securities that represent shares of non-U.S. companies, and they are traded on U.S. exchanges.
The act, which was passed in 2020, permits the SEC to ban companies from trading and be delisted from U.S. exchanges if American regulators are not able to review company audits for three consecutive years.
Markets have been tied closely to the conflict and have been inversely correlated with energy prices, which have been on a tear higher during the Russia-Ukraine war. Since Feb. 24 — when Russia invaded Ukraine — West Texas Intermediate crude have risen more than 14%, while Brent crude oil is up about 15% in that time.
All three major averages posted weekly losses as fears of higher interest rates and inflation deepened. The S&P 500 slid 2.5% this week for its second negative week in a row. The 30-stock Dow fell 1.8%, and the Nasdaq was the relative underperformer this week, losing 4.9%.
Ether, the world’s second-largest digital currency, hit a record high on Thursday.
The price of ether hit $1,918.52 during morning trade in Asia but has since pared some gains, according to CoinDesk data.
The rally in bitcoin, which surpassed $52,000 for the first time on Wednesday, is helping to push up ether as well.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken condemned Russia’s use of “harsh tactics” against peaceful protesters who urge for the release of Putin opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
More than 4,500 people were detained by Russian authorities for participating in the protests, according to a monitoring group.
“It remains striking to me, how concerned, and maybe even scared, the Russian government seems to be of one man, Mr. Navalny,” Blinken said last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 620.74 points, or 2%, to 29,982.62, the first time the 30-stock gauge has closed below the 30,000 mark since Dec. 14. The S&P 500 fell 1.9% to 3,714.24 as 10 sectors registered losses. The Nasdaq Composite slid 2% to 13,070.69 as Apple dropped 3.7% and other major tech names slipped.
Moderna is planning to test the safety and immune response from giving a booster shot of its Covid-19 vaccine one year after initial vaccination.
The duration of protection from Covid-19 vaccines isn’t yet known.
Its clinical trial sites have already begun outreach to volunteers from earlier trials.
