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Alibaba
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Alibaba quarterly revenue growth slowest on record as business in China remains hobbled by tightened regulation, weak consumer spending

  • The e-commerce giant’s revenue in the quarter ended December rose 10 per cent to US$38.07 billion, which missed analysts’ consensus estimates
  • Net income was down 74 per cent from a year ago to US$3.21 billion, which was worse than the 60 per cent decline projected by analysts

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Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding posted its slowest increase in quarterly revenue since the company went public in 2014. Photo: Shutterstock
Tracy QuandAnn Cao
Alibaba Group Holding reported a 10 per cent revenue increase in the three months ended December 31, marking its slowest sales growth since it went public in 2014, as Beijing’s scrutiny of Big Tech firms continued and consumer spending remained weak amid recent outbreaks of Covid-19 across the country.
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The Hangzhou-based company, parent of the South China Morning Post, said total revenue in the December quarter reached 242.58 billion yuan (US$38.07 billion), compared with 221.08 billion yuan in the same period last year, on the back of steady growth at its cloud, China commerce, local consumer services and international commerce operations. Still, that missed the 245 billion yuan consensus from analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Net income reached 20.43 billion yuan, down 74 per cent from 79.43 billion yuan a year earlier, which was worse than analysts’ consensus estimates of a 60 per cent drop to 31.5 billion yuan. The decline was mainly attributed to impairment of goodwill totalling 25.14 billion yuan and a decrease in net gains arising from changes in fair value of its equity investments.

“Alibaba delivered steady progress this quarter, as we continued to execute our multi-engine growth strategy in a complex and volatile market environment,” said Alibaba chairman and chief executive Daniel Zhang Yong in a statement on Thursday.

“We achieved positive momentum in key strategic businesses through a disciplined focus on capacity building and value creation to fuel our future growth. Our global annual active consumers grew at a solid pace, reaching 1.28 billion on the strength of a quarterly net increase of 43 million.”

A bird’s-eye view of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding’s sprawling headquarters in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, on February 21, 2022. Photo: Bloomberg
A bird’s-eye view of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding’s sprawling headquarters in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, on February 21, 2022. Photo: Bloomberg
Shares of Alibaba in Hong Kong tanked 6.7 per cent to a record-low of HK$104.90 on Thursday, ahead of its latest quarterly earnings report, as tensions heightened over Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. The company’s shares are down 11.8 per cent since the start of this year.
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