The new outbreak of covid-19 cases in China have led Asian stock markets to plummet at high speed with the implementation of the restrictions. Stock markets even lost $1.5 billion.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said today that Beijing will reduce the regulatory siege of the country's technology giants to bring more stability to the financial market, as well as policy measures favorable to capital markets.
The stock markets in Hong Kong and China closed Wednesday (16) at a strong high.
Alibaba on Tuesday announced an increase in its share buyback program to $25 billion the e-commerce giant's largest ever buyback plan to prop up its battered stock.
This is the second time Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has expanded its bailout program in less than a year. In August 2021, it increased from $10 billion to $15 billion.
By 2021, the company's shares have fallen more than 50%.
"The high value share repurchase underscores our confidence in Alibaba's long-term sustainable growth and value creation potential," said Deputy Chief Financial Officer Toby Xu, pointing out that "Alibaba's share price does not fairly reflect the company's value, given our robust financial health and expansion plans."
Following the news, the company's shares rose 4.8% in Hong Kong. In the United States, its shares closed up 4.3% on Monday.
Alibaba said it had $75 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments as of the end of December.
The company has been under pressure since late 2020, when its billionaire founder, Jack Ma, publicly criticized China's regulatory system.
Authorities subsequently suspended the IPO plan of its financial arm Ant Group and imposed a record $2.8 billion fine on Alibaba for anti-competitive behavior, causing a long slide in its shares.
Increasing competition from rivals, slowing consumer spending and a mature e-commerce market have also hit their performance.
In its latest earnings release, Alibaba posted annual revenue growth of 10%, its slowest quarter since going public in 2014 and the first time growth has fallen below 20%.
Alibaba said it had repurchased about $9.2 billion of its US-listed shares as of March 18 under its previously announced program, which was scheduled to last until the end of this year.
The current $25 billion program will be effective for a two-year period until March 2024.
Alibaba appointed Weijian Shan, the executive chairman of investment group PAG, as an independent director of its board, and said Borje Ekholm, the CEO of Ericsson will retire from Alibaba's board of directors on March 31.