Alibaba shares drop 6% on missed quarterly revenue
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The news: Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba missed revenue expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter, as weaker figures suggest the company is struggling to address a malaise in Chinese consumer appetite.
The numbers: Alibaba reported revenue of 236.45 billion yuan ($51.2 billion) in its fiscal fourth quarter ending 31 March, compared with analysts' estimates of 237.24 billion yuan, according to data compiled by LSEG. Net income for the quarter came in at 12.4 billion yuan, compared to 24.7 billion yuan expected.
Alibaba said cloud revenue reached 30.1 billion yuan in the quarter, an 18% year-on-year rise.
Shares in the ecommerce giant fell as much as 6% in premarket trading in the US on Thursday, having risen roughly 58% so far in 2025.
The context: China’s ecommerce giants are battling for greater market share as Chinese consumers are increasingly cost-conscious, forcing rivals into price wars and investing in new initiatives like AI to keep consumers spending.
Alibaba's results are in contrast with those of Tencent and JD.com, the latter topped first-quarter revenue estimates and said it was seeing strong user growth when it reported earnings on Tuesday.
Alibaba had pinned hopes on a rebound in its online commerce business to support its bet on AI tech integrations. The company has allocated over 380 billion yuan toward AI infrastructure including data centres over the coming three years. The company has also said it is developing its own AI models to compete with the likes of OpenAI.
The sources: Alibaba earnings, Reuters
