Alibaba’s shares experienced a decline on Thursday after the company missed earnings expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter in both revenue and net income. Shares dropped by 5% in premarket trading in the U.S. at 6:02 a.m. ET. Alibaba reported a revenue of 236.5 billion Chinese yuan ($32.6 billion), slightly lower than the expected 237.2 billion yuan. Net income came in at 12.4 billion yuan, significantly below the anticipated 24.7 billion yuan. Despite missing estimates, revenue still increased by 7% year-on-year, and net income was 279% higher compared to the previous year due to a low base. The company cited losses from the disposal of subsidiaries, offset by operational income growth and changes in equity investment valuations. Analysts had hoped that investments in artificial intelligence and core e-commerce would meet or exceed expectations. However, Alibaba faces macroeconomic challenges affecting consumer sentiment in China, including the trade war with the U.S. Alibaba’s core Taobao and Tmall division saw a 9% revenue increase to 101.4 billion yuan, faster than the previous quarter. Customer management revenue grew by 12% year-on-year. To boost sales, Alibaba partnered with Rednote (Xiaohongshu) to embed Taobao links in posts. The company also launched Qwen 3, an open-source large language model powering its AI assistant Quark.
— new from CNBC
