Hangzhou, China, February 7, 2024 – Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA today announced its financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2023.
“We delivered a solid quarter as we are executing our focused strategies across the organization. Our top
priority is to reignite the growth of our core businesses, e-commerce and cloud computing. We will step up
investment to improve users’ core experiences to drive growth in Taobao and Tmall Group and strengthen
market leadership in the coming year. We will also focus our resources on developing public cloud products
and sustaining the strong growth momentum in international commerce business,” said Eddie Wu, Chief
Executive Officer of Alibaba Group.
“Alibaba Group delivered a healthy quarter with revenue growth of 5% year-over-year. We increased our
investment in strategic priorities and improved shareholder return by leveraging our strong balance sheet and
cash flow. Our board of directors approved an increase of US$25 billion to our share repurchase program,
demonstrating our confidence in the outlook of our business and cash flow. Our consistent share repurchase
has also reduced outstanding share count while achieving EPS and cash flow per share accretion,” said Toby
Xu, Chief Financial Officer of Alibaba Group.
BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS
In the quarter ended December 31, 2023:

• Revenue was RMB260,348 million (US$36,669 million), an increase of 5% year-over-year.
• Income from operations was RMB22,511 million (US$3,171 million), a decrease of 36% yearover-year. The year-over-year decrease was primarily attributable to impairment of intangible assets
  of Sun Art and impairment of goodwill of Youku. Adjusted EBITA, a non-GAAP measurement
  (excluding share-based compensation expense, impairment of intangible assets and goodwill and
  certain other items), increased 2% year-over-year to RMB52,843 million (US$7,443 million).
• Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB14,433 million (US$2,033 million).
  Net income was RMB10,717 million (US$1,509 million), a decrease of 77% or RMB35,029 million
  year-over-year, primarily attributable to mark-to-market changes from our equity investments and
  the decrease in income from operations due to the impairment as mentioned above. Excluding sharebased compensation expense, gains/losses of investments, impairment of intangible assets and
  goodwill, and certain other items, non-GAAP net income in the quarter ended December 31, 2023
  was RMB47,951 million (US$6,754 million), a decrease of 4% compared to RMB49,932 million in
  the same quarter of 2022.
• Diluted earnings per ADS was RMB5.65 (US$0.80) and diluted earnings per share was
  RMB0.71 (US$0.10 or HK$0.78). Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS was RMB18.97
  (US$2.67), a decrease of 2% year-over-year and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was
  RMB2.37 (US$0.33 or HK$2.62), a decrease of 2% year-over-year.
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• Net cash provided by operating activities was RMB64,716 million (US$9,115 million), a decrease
  of 26% compared to RMB87,370 million in the same quarter of 2022. Free cash flow, a non-GAAP
  measurement of liquidity, was RMB56,540 million (US$7,963 million), a decrease of 31% compared
  to RMB81,514 million in the same quarter of 2022. The decrease in free cash flow was attributed to
  increased capex and several one-time factors including timing of income tax payments and working
  capital changes related to several of our businesses.
  BUSINESS AND STRATEGIC UPDATES
  Taobao and Tmall Group
  We are in the process of revitalizing Taobao and Tmall Group and positioning it for future growth. Our
  growth strategy is to put users first, build ecosystem for brands and merchants to thrive on our platform, and
  realize technology-driven innovation. We are committed to building an e-commerce ecosystem where
  brands, merchants and manufacturers operate with high efficiency, thereby providing multi-tiered Chinese
  consumers with good products and services at attractive prices. In December 2023, we appointed a new
  management team to execute Taobao and Tmall Group’s strategy and drive business growth through
  technological innovation.
  For the quarter ended December 31, 2023, revenue from Taobao and Tmall Group was RMB129,070 million
  (US$18,179 million), a growth of 2% year-over-year. During the quarter, online GMV achieved healthy
  growth year-over-year, with the number of transacting buyers and order volume growing strongly, partly
  offset by decrease in average order value. Under our user engagement and price-competitive strategies, we
  continued to increase interactive content and broaden the assortment of value-for-money products.
  Additionally, we continued our efforts to onboard a wider range of brands and merchants. The number of
  merchants operating on our platform during the quarter continued to grow at double digits year-over-year,
  and this double-digit growth trend has sustained over the past four quarters.
  Following a successful 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, order volume grew double digits year-over-year
  during the second half of the quarter. This reflected increasing consumer demand and willingness to make
  purchases on our platform driven by our price-competitive strategy.
  On the other hand, we have been successful in retaining and growing premium shoppers as the number of
  88VIP members continued to increase double digits year-over-year, surpassing 32 million.
  Cloud Intelligence Group
  For the quarter ended December 31, 2023, revenue from Cloud Intelligence Group was RMB28,066 million
  (US$3,953 million), a growth of 3% year-over-year. We continue to improve revenue quality by reducing
  the revenue from low-margin project-based contracts. On the other hand, revenue from public cloud
  products and services grew healthily which contributed to profitability improvement.
  Recent highlights of our proprietary products and technology include:
• Elastic Compute: In January 2024, Alibaba Cloud unveiled its newest general-purpose ECS
  instance g8i, which significantly boosts overall performance and AI inferencing capabilities.
• Database: In the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Cloud Database Management Systems
  report, Alibaba Cloud was named a Leader for the fourth year in a row.
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  Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group (“AIDC”)
  For the quarter ended December 31, 2023, revenue from AIDC grew 44% year-over-year to RMB28,516
  million (US$4,016 million), and the combined orders of AIDC grew 24% year-over-year. The strong
  performance was driven by solid growth across all of AIDC’s retail platforms, especially from the crossborder AliExpress Choice business. Our cross-border businesses exhibited rapid year-over-year growth in
  response to increasing global demand for high-quality products at attractive prices. To sustain this
  momentum and provide differentiated services to customers, we increased investments during this quarter
  and will continue to invest in further growth.
  During the quarter, AliExpress delivered over 60% year-over-year order growth, driven by Choice, which
  provides an enhanced experience to consumers by combining better product selection, price and quality with
  speed of logistics and great customer support. Choice represented about half of AliExpress’ total orders in
  January 2024 and continues to deliver rapid order growth.
  During the quarter, Trendyol continued its robust double-digit order growth. While maintaining its leading
  e-commerce position in Türkiye, Trendyol has further extended its operations into the Middle East with a
  wide range of merchandise as well as speedy and reliable logistics experience.
  Lazada continues to focus on optimizing its operating efficiency. With further increased monetization and
  decreased logistics costs, Lazada’s loss per order continued to narrow year-over-year during the quarter.
  Cainiao Smart Logistics Network Limited (“Cainiao”)
  For the quarter ended December 31, 2023, revenue from Cainiao grew 24% year-over-year to RMB28,476
  million (US$4,011 million), primarily driven by revenue from cross-border fulfillment solutions.
  Cainiao continues to execute its strategy of building a global smart logistics network, reinforcing
  comprehensive end-to-end capabilities in first-mile pick-up, line haul, customs clearance, sortation, and lastmile delivery. To support cross-border business development, with the upgrade of end-to-end capabilities,
  Cainiao further expanded its premium 5-day delivery service coverage, adding two more countries during
  the quarter. The order volume for the premium 5-day delivery service achieved robust triple-digit quarterover-quarter growth.
  Local Services Group
  For the quarter ended December 31, 2023, revenue from Local Services Group grew 13% year-over-year to
  RMB15,160 million (US$2,135 million), driven by healthy growth of Ele.me and rapid growth of Amap.
  During this quarter, order growth of Local Services Group exceeded 20% year-over-year. Local Services
  Group’s annual active consumers reached over 390 million and their annual purchasing frequency grew
  strongly year-over-year for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023. For this quarter, its losses
  continued to narrow driven by improving business scale and efficiency.
  Digital Media and Entertainment Group
  During the quarter ended December 31, 2023, revenue of Digital Media and Entertainment Group was
  RMB5,040 million (US$710 million), an increase of 18% year-over-year, driven by strong revenue growth
  of offline entertainment businesses of Alibaba Pictures. During the quarter, Damai, a subsidiary of Alibaba
  Pictures, consolidated its industry-leading position by servicing almost all the major concerts in China,
  which contributed to rapid GMV growth year-over-year. Total box office of movies produced, promoted and
  distributed by Alibaba Pictures’ movie segment accounted for more than half of China’s total box office
  during the quarter.
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  Updates on ESG Initiatives
  Progress in Decarbonization
  We continue to accelerate our transition to clean energy. In November 2023, Bloomberg New Energy
  Finance released the “China’s Top Clean Energy Buyers and Sellers in 2023.” Alibaba Group, with a green
  electricity transaction volume of 1,610 gigawatt-hours, became the national leader for green electricity
  procurement for the first time.
  In November 2023, Alibaba Group was the first Asian Internet technology company to join the World
  Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a group of over 200 businesses, to support
  WBCSD’s drive to make global value chains more sustainable. At COP28, Alibaba Group together with
  WBCSD and other corporate members, advocated for “Scope 3+” carbon reduction actions by promoting the
  “Guidance on Avoided Emissions” report.
  Upsize of Share Repurchase Program
  As previously announced, during the quarter ended December 31, 2023, we repurchased a total of 292.7
  million ordinary shares (equivalent of 36.6 million ADSs) for a total of US$2.9 billion, and a total of 897.9
  million ordinary shares (equivalent of 112.2 million ADSs) for a total of US$9.5 billion during the 2023
  calendar year. As of December 31, 2023, we had 20.0 billion ordinary shares (equivalent of 2.5 billion
  ADSs) outstanding. Our share repurchase program resulted in a net reduction of 3.3% in our outstanding
  shares in the 2023 calendar year after accounting for shares issued under our ESOP.
  Our board of directors has approved an increase of US$25 billion to our share repurchase program through
  the end of March 2027. Following this upsize, we currently have US$35.3 billion available under our share
  repurchase program through the next three fiscal years. We have undertaken to update investors on our share
  repurchases immediately after the end of each quarter with the next update expected to be published in early April.