Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA is pivoting towards its overseas business amid slow domestic consumption growth, with its international e-commerce business unit, comprising platforms like AliExpress, Lazada, Daraz, and Trendyol, reporting a 44% revenue increase to $4 billion in the December quarter.
This growth contrasts with the modest 2% year-over-year increase in its core e-commerce businesses, Taobao and Tmall Group.
CEO Eddie Wu highlighted plans to invest in improving user experiences, developing public cloud products, and sustaining growth in international commerce, CNBC reports.
Recent management changes across Alibaba’s subsidiaries, including the appointment of James Dong as acting CEO of Daraz and a series of layoffs at Lazada to enhance efficiency, reflect strategic adjustments following regulatory pressures in China.
Alibaba also focuses on crypto payments in 2024 as a critical area for broad-based crypto adoption.
Alibaba’s leadership overhaul in 2023, including Eddie Wu succeeding Daniel Zhang as CEO, marks a significant shift as the company faces increasing competition from rivals like PDD Holdings Inc PDD. The restructuring into six business units announced in March aims to make Alibaba more agile and responsive to market changes.
Despite these efforts, Alibaba’s e-commerce business faces challenges from emerging competitors. The company’s Southeast Asia unit, Lazada, also competes with stiff competition from regional players like Sea Limited’s Shopee and ByteDance’s TikTok Shop.
Last week, Hong Kong stocks, including Alibaba, experienced a notable rise for three days, driven by fund managers’ increasing optimism for China’s major tech firms due to more appealing valuations.
The rise precedes mainland China’s financial markets reopening following the Lunar New Year holiday, with ongoing positive momentum anticipated.
Esteemed investors like Michael Burry have raised their investments in Alibaba, showing trust in its enduring value.
Likewise, hedge funds and institutional investors, including Renaissance Technologies, Saba Capital, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, have initiated new stakes in the company. Alibaba gained close to 3% last week. PDD gained over 6%.
Price Action: BABA shares traded lower by 0.43% at $73.59 premarket on the last check Tuesday.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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