Alibaba news and archive

Chinese officials gather Alibaba execs over data heist

Alibaba shares sank on Friday after a report said the tech giant's executives had been called in for meetings with Chinese officials over the theft of a vast police database. A hacker last month put on sale what they claimed was the personal information of hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens -- which, if true, would make it one of the...

BusinessFeatured

Asia markets mostly up but Alibaba plunge hammers Hong Kong

Hong Kong tumbled Friday on an otherwise positive day for Asian markets, with Chinese ecommerce titan Alibaba tanking more than 10 percent after warning of a weaker outlook. Alibaba said Thursday that net profit tumbled 81 percent in the second quarter and revenue grew less than forecast as it was hit by the impact of slowing economic growth and...

Business

Alibaba, JD enjoy record Singles Day despite tech crackdown

Chinese ecommerce titan Alibaba enjoyed record sales during its Singles Day shopping extravaganza, giving a much-needed boost to the firm after a torrid year in which it became the symbol of a government crackdown that hammered the country's tech sector. The firm said 540.3 billion yuan (84.5 billion dollars) was spent as China's army of...

Business

Alibaba shares soar after Jack Ma reported on European trip

Alibaba shares surged more than six percent on Wednesday after billionaire founder Jack Ma was reported to be in Europe, fuelling investor hopes that the worst of China's regulatory crackdown for the internet giant might be over. Ma has kept a low profile ever since mainland officials spiked what would have been a world record 37 billion dollars...

Business

Largest payment app Alipay to be China's target in tech crackdown

Chinese regulators have ordered sweeping changes to the country's biggest payment app Alipay, as the ruling Communist Party attempts to rein in "the unruly growth" of the tech giants. Alipay -- with more than one billion users in China and other Asian nations including India -- was told to spinoff its profitable micro loan business, the...

Retail

Ganni expands into China with Tmall

Danish fashion brand Ganni is launching direct-to-consumer e-commerce in China with Tmall, part of the Alibaba Group on June 28. The collaboration will give Ganni access to more than 800 million active and digital-first consumers on the platform and will allow Chinese consumers to experience the “full Ganni universe,” said the brand in a...

Business

Alibaba announces 1.17 billion quarterly loss following record fine

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group said Thursday it fell to a 1.17 billion dollars operational loss in its latest financial quarter due to a record fine levied by the government for anti-competitive practises. The Hangzhou-based company was fined 18.2 billion yuan (2.78 billion dollars) last month, as part of a push by regulators to rein in...

Business

Rattled Chinese tech giants pledge to end unfair competition

Beijing - More than 20 Chinese tech giants have made a public pact to abide by anti-monopoly guidelines, after regulators told them to note “the warning” of a record fine against e-commerce giant Alibaba. Beijing is taking China’s tech firms to task to curtail the reach of private companies into the daily finances of the Chinese public — and,...

Business

Following record Alibaba fine, China is not letting up on big tech

A record fine, public penitence from a tech giant and a 'who's who' of digital firms warned to "rectify" their ambitions within a month -- state regulators are showing no one is bigger than Beijing in Xi Jinping's China. E-commerce titan Alibaba absorbed the massive 2.78 billion dollar penalty from China's market watchdog last Saturday, after a...

BusinessFeatured

China hits Alibaba with record 2.78 billion dollars for market abuses

Shanghai - Chinese regulators hit e-commerce giant Alibaba with a record 18.2 billion yuan (2.78 billion dollars) fine on Saturday over practices deemed to be an abuse of the company’s dominant market position. The State Administration for Market Regulation said it assessed the fine after concluding an investigation into Alibaba that began in...

CultureFeatured

Western brands face China backlash over political statements

Nike was the recipient of Chinese backlash after the sporting goods giant stated it does not use cotton from China’s Xinjiang region, where currently an international human rights crisis is ensuing with the alleged forced labour camps of the Uyghur people. On Weibo, China’s most popular social media channel, a retaliation against Nike began when...

Business

Tencent boss vows 'compliance' with China regulators

Beijing - Tencent’s billionaire founder Pony Ma — China’s second richest man — has met anti-monopoly regulators and agreed his firm will be “as compliant as possible”, after rival tech giant Alibaba was battered by legal woes. Tencent, which owns the super-app WeChat and a lucrative gaming empire, is the latest tech conglomerate to fall into the...