Alibaba Group Chairman Daniel Zhang said Hong Kong's "future is bright" as the company presses on with its secondary listing in the city gripped by increasingly violent protests and recession.
"Over the last few years, there have been many encouraging reforms in Hong Kong’s capital market. During this time of ongoing change, we continue to believe that the future of Hong Kong remains bright," Zhang wrote in the chairman’s letter included in the company's supplementary prospectus.
Four thousand people have been arrested in Hong Kong since June and the territory’s economy has sunk into recession for the first time in a decade as the anti-government demonstrations disrupt business and deter tourists.
Alibaba is hoping to raise up to $13.4 billion in its Hong Kong listing and the shares are due to start trading on Nov. 26. The retail price of the shares will be capped at HK$188 each.
The share sale is set to be Hong Kong's largest in more than nine years, and comes as Beijing seeks support from the semi-autonomous territory's tycoons and entrepreneurs to maintain a sense of business-as-usual in the face of more than five months of unrest.
Alibaba had originally considered a Hong Kong IPO in 2013, but ultimately chose New York after failing to gain approval from Hong Kong regulators for its unusual governance structure.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
HANGZHOU, China -- Chinese retailer Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's sales for its 24-hour Singles' Day shopping blitz hit a record $38.4 billion, more than US rival Amazon.com Inc's haul last quarter from online store sales.
But sales growth for the annual shopping festival eased to 26 percent, the weakest since the event started in 2009, held back by a slowing e-commerce industry in China as the country's economic expansion heads toward a historic low.
The event, a gauge of Chinese consumer sentiment, has also become a shop window this year for Alibaba as it plans to sell $15 billion worth of shares in Hong Kong this month. The US-listed firm has spent big to diversify its business yet still earns over four-fifths of revenue from e-commerce.
Alibaba turned China's informal Singles' Day into a shopping event in 2009 and built it into the world's biggest online sales fest, dwarfing Cyber Monday in the United States which took in $7.9 billion last year. The name is a play on the date, Nov. 11, rendered 11/11 - or Double Eleven, as the event is also known.
The event has since been replicated at home and abroad, with Singles' Day promotions found at rivals such as China's JD.com Inc and Pinduoduo Inc as well as South Korea's 11thStreet and Singapore's Qoo10.
Alibaba said on Monday its gross merchandise volume or GMV for the whole event came in at 268.4 billion yuan ($38.4 billion), up 26 percent from last year but below Citic Securities' forecasts for a 20-25 percent expansion.
In 2018, it posted a 27 percent sales increase.
CELEBRITY START
The Chinese retail juggernaut, with a market value of $486 billion, kicked off this year's 24-hour shopping bonanza with a live performance by US pop star Taylor Swift followed by live-streamed marketing of over 1,000 brands.
The firm said 84 brands including those of Apple Inc, L'Oreal SA and Fast Retailing Co Ltd's Uniqlo each made over 100 million yuan in sales in the first hour.
Over half of merchants on its Tmall marketplace used live streaming to sell products during the event, and sales generated through the medium surpassed 10 billion yuan at 8.55 a.m. (0055 GMT), Alibaba said.
"Nearly all our brands have opted for livestreaming promotions some time this year," says Josh Gardner, who helps overseas companies sell products on Tmall as CEO of Kung Fu Data.
"It's more entertaining than browsing through a product detail page. Traffic from livestreaming is easy to convert into transactions, and Tmall has supported stores that run livestreaming activities with resources."
One vendor, New Zealand-based nutritional supplement maker Clinicians, broadcast livestreams from a booth set up on Alibaba's campus. According to Carlos Zhao, China market manager, the company has seen a 40 percent jump in sales after it started livestreaming in China six months ago.
"This is a product form from new Zealand, everything is in English, and so many people are selling similar products, so customers wonder, 'Which one do I choose from?'" he told Reuters. "Having a livestreamer can help to break those barriers."
Tmall has said it expects over 500 million users to make purchases this year, about 100 million more than last year. It has also put more emphasis this year on promotions targeting areas outside of China's massive first- and second-tier cities.
"The younger generation is buying more, and the customer from rural areas, the customers from lower-tier cities, they are buying imported products," Tmall General Manager Alvin Liu told reporters.
Singles' Day is known to be a stressful time for Alibaba employees with workers sleeping at the office to keep up with orders.
This year, at Alibaba's campus in Hangzhou, workers bustle around in red t-shirts with the slogan 'Make 11 happen'.
Percussion echoes through halls as departments bang large drums each time a sales record is broken. Pink rice cakes – dingshenggao, or 'victory cakes' eaten by Yue Army soldiers during the Song Dynasty - fill the office snack bars.
This is the first time Alibaba's Singles' Day is being held since its flamboyant co-founder Jack Ma resigned as chairman in September to "start a new life".
source: news.abs-cbn.com
SHANGHAI - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Inc said on Monday that sales for its annual Singles' Day shopping blitz hit 91.2 billion yuan ($13 billion) within the first hour, up 32 percent from last year's early haul of 69 billion yuan.
Akin to Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States, Singles' Day has been promoted as a shopping fest by Alibaba Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Zhang since 2009, growing rapidly to become the world's biggest online sales event.
Also known as "Double Eleven", the festival's name originates from the calendar date 11/11, with the four ones referencing being single.
Alibaba saw sales worth $30 billion on its platforms on Singles' Day last year, dwarfing $7.9 billion US online sales for Cyber Monday. Yet the 27 percent sales growth was the lowest in the event's 10-year history, spurring a search for fresh ideas.
The $486 billion Chinese retail juggernaut kicked off this year's 24-hour shopping fest with performances by American pop star Taylor Swift and local celebrities like Jackson Yee.
This is the first time Alibaba's Singles' Day does not have flamboyant co-founder Jack Ma at its helm, after he resigned in September as chairman.
It also comes at a crucial time for the company, which is looking to raise up to $15 billion via a share sale in Hong Kong this month.
Alibaba continues to dominate the online shopping industry, but not without competition.
In addition to longtime rival JD.com, it now faces competition from upstart Pinduoduo, which surged in popularity in 2017 by targeting consumers in China's lower-tier cities.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
