Managing great expectations at Alibaba

Hong Kong

AFTER Alibaba Group Holding Ltd raised a record US$25 billion last year, founder Jack Ma said that the Chinese e-commerce company faced the danger of high expectations. He might be right.

About US$70 billion of market value has evaporated since Mr Ma made that statement in November as investors worry about slowing growth. Alibaba's dominance at home as a marketplace for buyers and sellers of goods is being undermined by a Chinese economy projected to grow at the slowest pace since 1990 and a consumer shift to mobile shopping that crimps advertising revenue.