Ali Baba life is still hard. She survived the brunt of Beijing’s regulatory fury but must now learn to live with a weaker Chinese economy, which is likely to persist. And while new regulatory shootings from Beijing may be slower to emerge, a less permissive political environment in China seems permanent.
The Chinese e-commerce giant’s overall revenue was flat year-on-year, while operating profit fell 19%. This is the company’s worst revenue growth since its New York IPO in 2014. Even so, it was better than the average estimate from S&P Global Market Intelligence, showing how much the analysts have become pessimistic about the Chinese e-commerce sector. .
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