Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba reported slowing growth in the second quarter, missing analyst expectations as its core online sales business faltered in the face of competition from Pinduoduo and JD.com, reported the Financial Times.
Alibaba’s lackluster earnings report comes as its shares have already been battered by China’s tightening regulatory environment for tech companies and a government-led “rectification” campaign aimed at sister company Ant Group.
“We are in the process of studying the regulatory requirements, evaluating the potential impacts on our relevant businesses and we will respond positively with actions,” said chief executive Daniel Zhang.
Alibaba reported a net attributable profit of RMB 45.1 billion on sales of RMB 205.7 billion, short of analysts expected RMB 208.7 billion, according to Capital IQ.