Chinese internet giant Alibaba announced on Tuesday plans to increase its share buyback program by $10 billion, from $15 billion to $25 billion, the second increase in a year, reports Reuters. Alibaba said it had already re-purchased about $9.2 billion of its US-listed shares as of March 18 under its program, which was initially slated to last until the end of this year.
The company’s shares had slumped in December 2020 after the then buyback amount of $10 billion failed to ease concerns about a regulatory crackdown on co-founder Jack Ma’s e-commerce and financial empire.
Alibaba had raised its buyback to $15 billion last August. The current program will be effective for a two-year period through March 2024, Alibaba said in its statement on Tuesday.