Regulators may be doing Alibaba a favor after all

It’s hard to put a positive spin on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s $2.8 billion antitrust fine, but I’ll try.

That penalty, announced last month and recognized in the March quarter, pushed the Chinese e-commerce giant into its first operating loss in eight years. Even without that one-off expense, the company’s profit breakdown wasn’t looking particularly solid. Although operating income, excluding the fine, climbed 48%, that benefited from comparison with the disastrous March quarter last year, when it was slammed hard by the global pandemic that originated in China. It was only 21% higher compared with results in the same period two years earlier.