Shares of Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) fell Wednesday, as the company missed market expectations for revenue in the December quarter, even as it announced it is increasing the size of its share buyback program by $25 billion.
Alibaba said the $25-billion increase is added to its share repurchase program through the end of March 2027, bringing the total available under the scheme to $35.3 billion.
The company said in a statement that the increased buyback shows the “confidence in the outlook of our business and cash flow.”
The announcement comes after a tumultuous year for Alibaba in 2023, when the company carried out its largest-ever corporate structure overhaul. It also separately implemented several high-profile management changes, with company veteran Eddie Wu taking over the reins as chief executive in September.
Alibaba on Wednesday released financial results for its December quarter.
Revenue proved to be 260.35 billion Chinese yuan ($36.6 billion U.S.) versus 262.07 billion yuan expected.
Revenue missed expectations, growing just 5% year-over-year, logging a slowdown from the previous quarters as growth in the company’s China e-commerce business and cloud computing division remained slow.
Meanwhile, Alibaba’s net income in the December quarter fell 69% year-on-year to 14.4 billon Chinese yuan. The company said this was “primarily attributable to mark-to-market changes” to its equity investments and to a decrease in income from operations due to impairments related to its video streaming service Youku and supermarket chain Sun Art.
BABA staggered $3.07, or 3.9%, to start out Wednesday at $75.16.
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