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Alibaba evaluates response to shelved Ant IPO as quarterly revenue rises 30 per cent
- The e-commerce giant’s revenue for the quarter ended September 30 reached US$22.8 billion to beat market estimates
- As China’s largest e-commerce company, Alibaba’s financial results are seen as a bellwether of consumer spending in the world’s most populous country
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E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding is reviewing its next moves after China’s regulators halted the public listing of affiliate Ant Group this week, a setback that cast a shadow on the company’s strong financial results in the quarter ended September 30.
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“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, in a conference call on Thursday after reporting its latest quarterly results. “We’ll take appropriate measures accordingly.”
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 on Thursday 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.
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