Alibaba Group Holdings Limited has pledged 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) over five years for Chinese President Xi Jinping's campaign for shared prosperity, becoming The latest tech giant is funding China's broad goal of wealth-sharing.
The government-backed Zhejiang Daily reported Thursday that China's second-largest company will distribute the money through 10 initiatives including technology investment and support for small businesses. A spokesman for Alibaba confirmed the news, without elaborating.
Ali Baba is joining a growing number of peers in pledging donations, having amassed a fortune during the decade-long mobile internet boom. Bindudu, the e-commerce giant, is the rival of Alibaba in rural areas.
Tencent Holdings, China's most valuable company, said last month that it would double the amount of money it allocates for social responsibility programs to about $15 billion.
They are joined by a growing number of tech billionaires, from PDD's Colin Huang to Zhang Yaming of ByteDance Co., Ltd., and Li Jun of Xiaomi, in Donate huge sums to a large number of initiatives.
This largesse coincides with a period of intense scrutiny of the growing power and influence of the largest Chinese companies, from Tencent to Alibaba, which have received a $2.8 billion fine for allegedly abusing their dominance. on the market.
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Catherine Lim and Tiffany Tam said Alibaba's plan to participate in the Shared Prosperity Initiative could help resolve regulatory concerns; Nor will it affect sales and profits.
And they noted that the proposed $15.5 billion, through 2025, is only 31% of Alibaba's current cash balance and compares to free cash flow for a period of time. 12 months, which amounts to $24 billion.
