Alibaba raises shares buyback to 67% to $25 billion

Shanghai, China, 22 Mar Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba announced today that it will raise its share buyback plan from $15 billion to $25 billion, up 67 percent. In a statement sent to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the board claims to have made this decision because of its “confidence in the company's continued growth in the future”. The initiative coincides with a time when Alibaba shares have been reaching lows since 2016 in New York — falling from $100 per unit for the first time in more than five years — and its lowest historical value in Hong Kong, where it started trading at the end of 2019. “Alibaba's share price does not fairly reflect the company's value given our strong financial health and expansion plans,” said the company's deputy financial director, Toby Xu, quoted by the Group's own Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post. It should also be recalled that, last week, the Chinese authorities asked to conclude “through standardized, transparent and predictable supervision” the campaign to regulate digital platforms, which has caused huge losses to listed companies in the sector, among which Alibaba has been one of the worst stops. The renewed share buyback plan will last two years, until March 2024. According to data from the company, as of last Friday Alibaba had acquired 56.2 million of its US-listed securities. Government for about 9.2 billion dollars. The original plan, announced in December 2020, involved the repurchase of $10 billion in shares, and was expanded to 15 billion dollars in August last year. The company also announced today the departure of its board of directors of Swedish technology company Ericsson, Börje Ekholm, who had held that position for seven years; he will be replaced by the CEO of Hong Kong investment firm PAG, Shan Weijian. After the announcement, Hong Kong-listed technology company stocks soared by 11.2%. CHIEF vec/jco/fp