Alibaba approves additional $25 bn share buyback as revenue disappoints

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding on Wednesday approved an additional USD 25 billion authorisation to its share buyback programme, after reporting lower-than-expected sales revenue for the last quarter of 2023.

The company’s Hong Kong-traded shares plunged 6.8 per cent on Thursday. Alibaba’s New York-listed stock price sank 5.9 per cent on Wednesday and has fallen nearly 26 per cent over the past year.

Alibaba posted a 5 per cent increase in sales to 260.3 billion yuan (USD 36.67 billion) in the quarter that ended in December, slightly missing analysts’ estimates. Net income sank to 14.4 billion yuan (USD 2 billion), down 77 per cent compared to a year earlier.