reported net losses of $2.89 billion for the three months between July and September, compared with profits of $3.16 billion in the same period last year.
Alibaba said that the swing from profit to loss was primarily due to “an increase in net losses arising from the decrease in market prices of [its] equity investments in publicly-traded companies and a decrease in share of results of equity method investees.” A large part of those depressed valuation related to controversial financial unit Ant Financial.
CEO Daniel Zhang said the “solid results had been achieved in an environment full of macro uncertainty.” In a regulatory filing management specified that the numbers had been achieved despite of “the impact on consumption demand by the resurgence of COVID-19 in China and slowing cross-border commerce due to increasing logistics costs and currency volatility.”
On a conference call with financial analysts following the regulatory filing Zhang talked up the company’s long term track record and its long-term prospects.