# Prof. Aswath Damodaran discusses the risks of investing in Alibaba

1 Faculty News September 17, 2014 ![CNBC logo](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/uat_027305.jpg?itok=Ipx0jiaQ)>

Excerpt from [CNBC](http://www.cnbc.com/id/102010663) -- "I'm not getting a piece of a company,' \[[Damodaran](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/aswath-damodaran)\] said. 'I'm getting a piece of a shell that owns a company where a politburo, basically, sets the board of directors. And if you're a trader, you really don't care. I mean, you're going to be out in six months or three months. What do you care that Jack Ma has power for life? The way I see it, traders date companies, investors marry companies. If you marry a company, you've got to be in here for the long term, and it scares the heck of me that I have absolutely no power over how this company will be run, or what can happen in the future.'"

[Read more](http://www.cnbc.com/id/102010663)

Additional coverage in [Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-18/alibaba-bulls-in-what-me-worry-mode-as-global-roadshow-ends.html)