Alibaba posts record-low quarterly growth since 2014

Alibaba Group‘s revenue hit US$32.18 billion in the fourth quarter of the financial year ended (FYE) March 2022, marking a 9% increase compared to the same period a year ago even as macro challenges continue to plague the Chinese ecommerce major.

This was also the slowest quarterly growth for the company since its US listing in 2014.

Photo credit: Alibaba

For the full financial year of FYE 2022, the revenue was up 19% year over year (YoY) at US$134.56 billion.

“We will continue to execute on our multi-engine growth strategy by strengthening our digital infrastructure and focusing on quality growth to create long-term value for our customers, shareholders and other stakeholders across our ecosystem,” Daniel Zhang, chairman and CEO of Alibaba, said in a statement.

The company posted a net loss of US$2.5 billion for the March quarter, primarily due to drops in the market prices of equity investments in publicly traded companies. For FYE 2022, the net profit was US$9.7 billion, showing a YoY decrease of 59%.

The number of annual active consumers within the firm’s ecosystem reached 1.31 billion. It crossed the 1 billion customer-base milestone in China during the quarter.

The profit of Ant Group, which owns e-wallet app Alipay, grew to US$3.4 billion in the quarter ended December 2021. Notably, the fintech behemoth reports its earnings one quarter behind Alibaba, which owns a one-third stake in Ant.

See also: Alibaba’s financial health in 5 charts

Considering the uncertainties arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, Alibaba did not give guidance for FYE 2023 “Since mid-March 2022, our domestic businesses have been significantly affected by the Covid-19 resurgence in China, particularly in Shanghai,” the company said.

Alibaba recently invested US$378 million in Lazada, its Southeast Asian ecommerce arm Lazada. The latter is reportedly eyeing Europe for its first major expansion.