New | Alibaba's 7 billion yuan tax bill among Jack Ma's 'proudest moments' of 2013
E-commerce giant paid equivalent of 20 million yuan a day in taxes, making it biggest internet-firm taxpayer
Alibaba paid more than 7 billion yuan (HK$ 8.9 billion) in taxes last year, averaging around 20 million in taxes per day, Jack Ma revealed in a company letter on Monday, according to .
Jack Ma’s internet conglomerate estimates that Tencent and Baidu paid no more than 7 billion and 4.2 billion respectively this year, making Alibaba China’s highest tax-paying internet company, the news report cited Ma as saying.
Since the fourth quarter of 2012, Alibaba had three consecutive quarters where its net profit exceeded that of Tencent.
The two internet giants have been competing fiercely for the world’s most lucrative e-commerce market, each investing heavily in online retail and social media to attract customer loyalty.
According to the Shanghai municipal tax department, two top tax-paying enterprises paid more than tens of billions of yuan, Bank of Communications, (16.2 billion yuan) and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (10.4 billion dollars).
Alibaba Group currently employs 23,000 people, and every employee “contributed” more than 300,000 yuan of the tax payable.
Ma said his proudest moments last year were the Alibaba microfinance unit’s financial reform involvement, the roll-out of company-wide wireless services and the amount of taxes he paid.
“From our conclusion, last year indicators show [it was] Alibaba’s best year yet,” Ma was quoted saying.
