Jack Ma Urges Alibaba to Embrace Competition, Highlights Growth Opportunities

Alibaba Group Holding BABA co-founder Jack Ma urged the company to believe in market forces, citing competition as a potent growth driver.

“Many of Alibaba’s business face challenges and the possibility of being surpassed, but that’s to be expected as no single company can stay at the top forever in any industry,” the Wall Street Journal cites Ma’s internal memo.

Ma’s assurances came after reports indicated Alibaba Group had bagged a clean chit from the Chinese regulators after three long years that had cost the initial public offering of fintech affiliate Ant Group.

Alibaba Group recently joined China’s Stock Connect, which, according to Morgan Stanley, has the potential to unlock $12 billion in funds.

The company reported fiscal first-quarter 2024 topline growth of 4% year-on-year to $33.47 billion, missing the analyst estimate of $34.81 billion. Net income plunged 29% Y/Y to $3.34 billion as the domestic e-commerce price war took a toll.

The $201 billion e-commerce juggernaut battled immense domestic competition thanks to a brewing price war to gain market share from PDD Holdings Inc’s PDD Pinduoduo e-commerce platform and ByteDance’s short-video app Douyin.

The U.S. advanced semiconductor sanctions also posed a bummer for the company’s artificial intelligence ambitions.

Alibaba Group stock lost 6% in the last 12 months. Investors can gain exposure to the stock through John Hancock Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF JHEM and Trust for Professional Managers ActivePassive International Equity ETF APIE.

Price Action: BABA stock traded lower by 0.33% at $83.52 premarket at the last check on Wednesday.

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