Alibaba seeks to reassure investors as Beijing’s business crackdown grows

The Chinese online shopping behemoth has been slammed in recent months by Beijing’s widening crackdown on private business, stoking concerns about its future. On Tuesday, it reported a drop in earnings despite an increase in sales. Net income of 45.1 billion yuan, or about $7 billion, slipped from 47.6 billion yuan it earned a year earlier. But its adjusted earnings were a bit better than recently lowered estimates from analysts. Alibaba’s revenue of 205.7 billion yen, or about $32 billion, while up 34% from a year ago, fell a bit short of expectations. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had forecast revenue would reach 209 billion yuan.The company tried to assure investors by announcing it will now repurchase $15 billion in shares through next year, up from a $10 billion repurchase plan that had been in place. It also disclosed it had repurchased $3.7 billion worth of its US-traded shares since April.Alibaba’s main business — e-commerce — has Joe Tsai, Alibaba Group’s co-founder and executive vice chairman, played down concerns when the fine was announced, saying that the company was “pleased” that it could “Regulatory scrutiny on a broadening number of industries has also spooked investors. A stock market sell-off last week wiped out hundreds of billions of dollars in market value for several prominent Chinese tech companies, including Alibaba. That came as Beijing issued directives for education tech, food delivery and other sectors.Chinese state media has since urged investors to stay calm, with one newspaper telling investors to “have confidence in the market.””A short-term shock does not change the nature of the long-term positive trend,” read a commentary published in the Securities Times last week. “China’s economy and markets are at an advantage in terms of its width and depth.”– Chris Isidore Paul R. La Monica, Laura He and Michelle Toh contributed to this report.