Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) chairman Jack Ma (馬雲) has said his employees would not receive traditional Lunar New Year gifts because last year had not been “exceptional” for the company, despite its world-beating initial public offering (IPO) listing on Wall Street.
Chinese bosses ordinarily hand out hong bao (紅包) — red envelopes filled with cash — to staff ahead of the week-long holiday to wish them luck for the year ahead.
Lunar New Year begins on Thursday and will usher in the Year of the Sheep, while waving goodbye to the Year of the Horse.
Although Alibaba employees would still receive a bonus, they will not take home the traditional symbol of prosperity due to the lack of any “particularly stunning” results, Ma said.
“There will be no distribution of red envelopes for the simple reason that Alibaba has not had exceptional results, and that we haven’t seen anything particularly stunning,” China’s richest man said in a message published on Friday last week on a local social network.
“The IPO success was nothing surprising, but simply the fruits of the dogged work by Alibaba staff over 15 years,” Ma said. “Apart from this IPO, we could not say objectively that we have been overjoyed with the year just gone.”
The letter will raise eyebrows, as last year was widely viewed as a blockbuster year for the firm, with its US$25 billion listing on the New York Stock Exchange in September last year propelling Ma to the top of China’s rich list overnight.
However, the firm’s fortunes have turned somewhat in the past few weeks. A Chinese government agency has accused the firm of allowing “illegal operations” to flourish on its Web sites, including the sale of counterfeit or fake merchandise, which has in turn raised questions by US stock market regulators.
Alibaba said on Friday last week that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has requested information on Chinese authorities’ allegations that the company has failed to do enough to prevent fake goods from being sold on its Web sites.
The company disputed the allegations, firing back at the Chinese regulators with charges of bias and misconduct. However, the company quickly settled the public dispute with the government, promising to do more to fight online sales of counterfeit goods.
The commission’s letter states that its inquiries should not be seen as indicating Alibaba has violated any US securities law, the company said.
Alibaba shares slipped US$0.51 to US$88.54 in after-hours trading following the company’s announcement. That is down from US$102.94 last month before news emerged of the Chinese regulators’ allegations.
Additional reporting by AP
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