Alibaba’s quarterly revenue has fallen for the first time since its 2014 New York listing after the ecommerce group co-founded by Jack Ma suffered from China’s brutal Covid-19 lockdowns.
The Chinese group reported that revenue in the second quarter declined less than 1 per cent year on year to Rmb206bn ($31bn), during a period that included Covid lockdowns in large parts of the country. Operating profit fell 19 per cent to Rmb25bn from a year earlier.
Noting the “soft” economic environment, chief executive Daniel Zhang said Alibaba could not control the Covid resurgence nor Beijing’s policies. “The only thing we can do at this moment is to focus on improving ourselves,” he said.