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Showing confidence in a bid to boost a slumping stock amid China’s economic weakness, Alibaba ( BABA ) senior executives Jack Ma and Joe Tsai will spend a combined $500 million to buy company stock. Alibaba confirmed the repurchase decision by Ma, executive chairman, and Tsai, executive vice chairman. It will be part of a $4 billion stock buyback plan that Alibaba announced in August. Alibaba stock was up more than 4%, near 70, in afternoon trading in the stock market today . The China e-commerce leader went public in 2014 with shares priced at 68, in the largest initial public offering on a U.S. stock exchange. The stock hit an all-time high of 120 in November 2014. Since then, the stock has dropped on concerns about a slowing China economy, accusations of selling counterfeit goods on its e-commerce websites, and increased competition from JD.com ( JD ) and others. Alibaba reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Jan. 28, boosted by strength in mobile and defying concerns of a weak Chinese economy, but growth slowed for a key metric, and shares fell. Revenue for its fiscal Q3, which ended Dec. 31, rose 32% in local currency to $5.3 billion. Earnings per share minus items of 99 cents rose 16%. But Alibaba showed slowing growth in the total value of goods sold, or gross merchandise volume, on its platforms. Addressing the China economy in the conference call, Tsai said that China is going through a structural shift from high growth to more moderate but more sustainable growth. “China is still one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and we have no reason to think anything different in the foreseeable future,” Tsai said on the call. JD, Alibaba’s main rival in China’s burgeoning e-commerce field, is set to report Q4 earnings before the market open Tuesday. Image provided by Shutterstock . Scalper1 News
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