Alibaba Increases Share Buyback Size to $25 Billion

Alibaba increased its share buyback programme to $25 billion on Tuesday. This is the largest ever repurchase plan for e-commerce giants to support sick stocks while avoiding regulatory oversight and concerns about slowing growth.

The plan comes after the tech rally in the past few days after the Vice Premier of China said that Beijing will roll out more measures to boost the economy along with taking favourable steps for the capital market.

This is the second time when Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has expanded its buyback programme in a year. Earlier it hiked the programme from $10 billion to $15 billion last August. The shares of the company rose 4.8% in Hong Kong after the news and closed at 4.3% in the United States of America.

Rukim Kuang, the founder of Beijing-based Lens Research Company, said Alibaba's repurchase decision was due to Beijing's antitrust measures and "chaotic capital expansion" limiting new investment opportunities. 

Alibaba said that it has $75 billion in cash, cash equivalent and short term investments as of the end of December. It has been under pressure since late 2020 when its founder Jack Ma publicly criticised the regulatory system of China.