Alibaba swings to net loss as $2.8 billion antitrust fine weighs on earnings, but revenue beats forecast

GUANGZHOU, China — Alibaba swung to a net loss in its fiscal fourth quarter as a massive antitrust fine it received last month weighed on its earnings, while revenue beat expectations.

Here’s how Alibaba did versus Refinitiv estimates: 

Revenue: 187.39 billion ($28.6 billion) vs. 180.41 billion yuan estimated, up 64% year-over-year.

Earnings per share: 10.32 yuan per share ($1.58) vs. 11.12 yuan per share estimated, up 12% year-over-year.

Alibaba swung to a net loss in the March quarter of 5.47 billion yuan. The market had expected a net profit of 6.95 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv estimates.

Alibaba will be hoping the latest results might draw a line over the company’s recent troubles with regulators, which began when the $34.5 billion initial public offering of Ant Group, its financial technology affiliate, was pulled in November.

Since then, over $240 billion of value has been wiped off of Alibaba’s stock as regulatory scrutiny continued, including the massive 18.23 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) fine it received as a result of an anti-monopoly investigation.

Alibaba said its loss from operations was 7.66 billion yuan as a result of the fine. But excluding that, its income from operations would have been 10.56 billion yuan, a 48% year-on-year rise.

China has been expanding its crackdown on the domestic technology sector. Last month, the market regulator opened an investigation into “suspected monopolistic practices” of food delivery giant Meituan, a company that Alibaba’s Ele.me competes with.

Alibaba’s U.S. shares were down 0.6% in pre-market trade.

The Chinese e-commerce giant said it expects to generate revenue of 930 billion yuan in its 2022 fiscal year. That would represent a roughly 29.65% year-on-year growth.