Alibaba CEO reassures employees amid economic and regulatory challenges

Chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang tells employees and their families to ‘relax’ despite uncertainties in the international situation and the Covid-19 pandemic

With strict pandemic lockdown measures weighing on the country’s economic outlook, Beijing is looking to give internet platforms a bigger role to help the economy

Reading Time:2 minutes

A child views a sign of Alibaba Group Holding's at its headquarters in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, on May 8, 2021. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 7:00pm, 11 May 2022Updated: 1:35pm, 12 May 2022

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding is an important contributor to society and continues to develop in a “regulated” manner despite major challenges, according to its chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang Yong.

Alibaba is embedded in Chinese society and the economy and is developing in a regulated manner along with the rest of China’s internet industry, Zhang said on Tuesday during the annual gathering of employees and family members at the company's campus in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, according to a press release citing his remarks.

“Family members of Alibaba, please relax," Zhang said in the statement. "Despite uncertainties in the international situation and the Covid-19 pandemic, we are still developing as a whole.”

Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, has been at the centre of a regulatory storm that has rocked China’s tech sector since late 2020. The company’s affiliated financial technology unit, Ant Group, was forced to call off a mega initial public offering in Hong Kong and Shanghai at the last minute, while Alibaba was slapped with a record antitrust fine for alleged monopolistic practices.

The company reported its slowest quarterly growth on record in February this year, while its share price fell to a record low in March. Alibaba’s market capitalisation hit a low of HK$1.54 trillion (US$19.67 billion) that month, only about 40 per cent of what it was at the time of its Hong Kong listing. Its shares are currently trading at less than one third of their peak in late 2020.

Meanwhile, Alibaba founder and former executive chairman Jack Ma has kept a low profile and remains out of public view. Ma, who made a rare appearance at last year’s staff gathering, was not in any of the event photos Alibaba released on Tuesday. Owing to Covid-19 restrictions, many Alibaba employees watched the activities, which included a group wedding ceremony, online.

With China’s strict Covid-19 lockdown measures weighing on the country’s economic outlook, Beijing has signalled an end to the regulatory campaign and is looking to give internet platforms a bigger role so they can help prop up the economy.