Jack Ma praised a key rival. A day later, it overtook Alibaba as China's most valuable e-commerce company.

Jack Ma, cofounder of tech giant Alibaba.

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• Temu's parent company, PDD Holdings, is currently more valuable than Alibaba.
• PDD's market cap overtook Alibaba a day after Jack Ma praised the rival ecommerce upstart.
• PDD's market cap is nearly $185 billion, while Alibaba's market cap is nearly $184 billion.

Chinese tech giant Alibaba hasn't had the easiest time in the past three years.

Alibaba — and its larger-than-life cofounder, Jack Ma ...