Alibaba posts revenue miss, hikes shares buyback program by $25 billion

Alibaba missed market expectations for revenue in the December quarter, but announced it is increasing the size of its share buyback program by $25 billion, sending shares to whipsaw after earnings were released.

U.S.-listed shares in the Chinese e-commerce giant were are one point more than 5% higher in pre-market trade, but turned slightly negative after.

Alibaba said the $25 billion increase is added to its share repurchase program through the end of March 2027, bringing the total available under the scheme to $35.3 billion.

The announcement comes as Alibaba released financial results for its December quarter.

Here’s how Alibaba did in its fiscal third quarter, compared to LSEG estimates:

• Revenue: 260.35 billion Chinese yuan ($36.6 billion) versus 262.07 billion yuan expected.

Revenue missed expectations, growing just 5% year-over-year, logging a slowdown from the previous quarters as growth in the company’s China e-commerce business and cloud computing division remained slow.

Alibaba has been grappling with a difficult macroeconomic environment in China, where the consumer has remained weak, even after Beijing removed its Covid-era restrictions. Amid economic uncertainties, local shoppers have flocked to discounting platforms such as Alibaba rival Pinduoduo.

The Taobao and Tmall business, Alibaba’s China e-commerce platforms, brought in revenue of 129.1 billion Chinese yuan in the December quarter, up just 2% year-on-year.

Alibaba’s cloud computing business, which investors have seen as critical to the tech giant’s future growth, brought in sales of 28.1 billion yuan, a 3% year-on-year rise.

In a statement, recently-appointed Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu said the company’s focus is on growth in e-commerce and cloud.

“Our top priority is to reignite the growth of our core businesses, e-commerce and cloud computing. We will…