HONG KONG – Alibaba had its first quarterly operating loss since it went public in 2014 after Beijing slapped a record $2.8 billion fine on the nation's largest e-commerce company for abusing its market position.
The loss tied to the anti-monopoly fine was 7.66 billion yuan ($1,170 million) for the quarter that ended in March, though revenue growth was 64%, reaching 187.4 billion yuan ($28.6 million).
At the opening bell on the NYSE Thursday, shares tumbled more than 6%. Authorities launched an investigation into Alibaba last year and abruptly halted the $37 billion initial public offering of shares from its financial affiliate Ant Group as Beijing grew increasingly concerned over the growing influence of technology giants in China.