Alibaba Stock Soars. Brace for an Unprecedented Shakeup—and Spinoffs.

Alibaba

stock was soaring on Tuesday after the Chinese tech behemoth said it will split itself into six units—including one for cloud computing—which will explore fundraising including possible initial public offerings.

U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba (ticker: BABA) jumped 7.4% in premarket trading as investors digested what represents the biggest governance overhaul in the 24-year history of one of China’s most important companies—with important implications for investors.