China’s Alibaba misses revenue estimates on the back of crackdown

The growth slowdown underlines fears that new gov’t rules are constraining expansion, increasing the burden on firms.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s revenue missed estimates for the first time in more than two years, underscoring how Beijing’s months-long campaign against the internet sector is taking a toll. Growth slowed in most of Alibaba’s major divisions from cloud to e-commerce, underlining fears that the mounting list of new government regulations is constraining expansion and increasing companies’ burdens. In a sign of the times, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang on Tuesday endorsed a string of government policies enacted during a tumultuous 2021, from strict curbs on data collection to excessive subsidies. In particular, he voiced support for a six-month campaign kicked off last week by the internet industry overseer that expressly called out the blocking of rivals’ services. Alibaba and arch-foe Tencent Holdings Ltd. have long excluded each other’s services from their platforms, creating so-called walled gardens. That rift helps perpetuate the empires of China’s two largest corporations and is a key point of contention with regulators concerned about the growing influence of internet firms, because it encourages merchants and startups to gravitate toward one or the other.