Chinese tech company Alibaba posted its slowest revenue growth since going public in 2014. Between October and December last year, the IT giant's revenue amounted to about $38 billion, which is $1 billion less than predicted. On an annualized basis, revenue growth reached 10%.
Alibaba's earnings per share fell 23% to $2.65 year-over-year. Analysts at Refinitiv believed that it would be $2.56.
A quarterly earnings growth of 10% was the lowest since Alibaba's US listing. Against the background of this message, the company's shares fell, by the trading session ended, their price decreased by 0.7%. Alibaba said its share price did not adequately represent the value of the company. The spokesman promised that Alibaba would maintain financial flexibility for future investments.
Last December, the company bought back approximately 10.1 million of its US-listed depositary receipts for $1.4 billion.
Since last year, the company began separating Chinese and international business into different reporting segments. Alibaba now reports adjusted earnings before taxes, depreciation for each category.
Customer management is the most profitable direction of the company. Marketing services revenue was $15 billion, down 1% from a year earlier. Alibaba's profit from trade with China fell 20% to $8.5 billion. Revenue from the company's international business business increased 18% to $2.6 billion.
Alibaba sees an increase in the number of customers from less developed regions of China. The company intends to ensure its progress at the expense of small Chinese cities, for this it launched the Taobao Deals discount store. Orders in this service have grown by 100% over the year.
Cloud revenue for the quarter increased 20% to $3.09 billion. In the third quarter of 2021, growth was 33%. Revenue from local consumer services reached $1.92 billion, up 27%.
Due to the decision of the Chinese authorities in September to make all cryptocurrency-related activities illegal, Alibaba banned the sale of mining equipment. The company promised to fine violators of the rules of the Aliexpress and Taobao sites.
Last summer, the Chinese government planned to ban US IPOs from companies that deal with a lot of confidential information. The Chinese regulator intended to introduce new rules in the fourth quarter of 2021. In July, the authorities required companies that own the data of more than 1 million users to seek permission before entering an overseas IPO.
Last spring, China's State Administration for Market Control issued a $2.8 billion fine to Alibaba. The regulator stressed that the sanction was due to a violation of antitrust laws.
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