Alibaba Group’s Q2 income goes into the red

Internet titan Alibaba Group saw its losses widen for the second quarter of its 2023 financial year, as China still reels from the effects of Covid-19 and the government’s crackdown on local tech giants.

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Alibaba’s quarterly net loss was reported at 22.47 billion yuan (US$3.16 billion), plunging from the US$471.9 million in net income it recorded in the same quarter a year ago.

The company attributed the decline to shrinking market prices of its equity investments in publicly traded companies, among other factors.

On a non-GAAP basis, which doesn’t consider changes in fair value of Alibaba Group’s investments, net income for the quarter stood at US$4.75 billion, a 19% year-on-year jump.

The company posted US$29.12 billion in revenue for the quarter, representing a year-over-year change of 3%.

Most of the amount came from its domestic commerce segment, which generated US$18.93 billion in revenue for the quarter – a 1% decrease from the same year-ago quarter.

Income from Alibaba Group’s operations was at US$3.53 billion in revenue for the quarter, representing a year-over-year change of 68%.

Meanwhile, Ant Group’s shares slid to about US$1 billion in Q1 of FYE 2023 compared to US$3.02 billion in the same quarter last year. Ant’s earnings lag one quarter behind Alibaba, which owns a one-third stake in Ant.

Alibaba said the growth came on the back of an increase in adjusted EBITA and a decline in share-based compensation expense. The group’s adjusted EBITA saw a 29% year-on-year uptick to US$5.1 billion.

See also: Alibaba’s financial health in 5 charts

Chief financial officer Toby Xu said that Alibaba has repurchased about US$18 billion of its shares as part of its US$25 billion share repurchase program so far.

“In addition, our board has approved to upsize the share repurchase program by another US$15 billion and extend the program to the end of fiscal year 2025,” he added.

Currency converted from Chinese yuan to US dollars: US$1 = 7.08 yuan.