Inside China Tech: Alibaba weighs Ant impact while 5G struggles to gain ground
- Alibaba reported revenue of 155.1 billion yuan (US$22.8 billion) in its financial second quarter, up from 119 billion yuan a year ago
- By mid-October, China had 160 million devices connected to 5G networks, according to MIIT
Online sales resilient
“As Ant Group’s major shareholder, Alibaba is actively evaluating the impact on our business and our response to the recent proposed change in the fintech regulatory environment,” said Daniel Zhang Yong, chairman and chief executive of Alibaba.
Hangzhou-based Ant Group, operator of Alipay, was projected to raise up to US$39.7 billion in the world’s largest IPO in Shanghai and Hong Kong, which was scheduled on Thursday.
A meeting earlier this week between Ant Group’s senior executives and China’s top financial regulators led to a “significant change” to the company’s business environment, which may result in the firm not fulfilling the listing requirements or disclosure rules, according to its statement to the two bourses.
Alibaba reported revenue of 155.1 billion yuan (US$22.8 billion) in its financial second quarter, up from 119 billion yuan a year ago, which was slightly ahead of the 154.8 billion yuan consensus from a Bloomberg survey of analysts’ estimates.