Never mind Alibaba. Jack Ma is Midas. Yesterday, shares of Ali Pictures — a 60 per cent-owned subsidiary of Mr Ma’s Alibaba — rose one-third on news that it might receive two assets from its parent. No detail was given on payment or the assets’ accounts. Yet the market deemed the numberless deal worth $3bn, pushing Ali Pictures’ market capitalisation above $10bn.

Ali Pictures was ChinaVision before the Alibaba investment last March. It is now in effect a start-up, relisted last December after a suspension for accounting problems under the old management. The new company has glitzy connections.

Since October it has inked deals with TV and film partners in Guangdong, Shenzhen and Zhejiang. In January it said that its first film project would involve director Wong Kar-Wai and actor Tony Leung. Last December the actress Zhao Wei bought nearly a 10th of the company for $400m.