2023 was a year of change for Alibaba (BABA 0.59%). The company announced plans to split up its massive business empire, reshuffled its management team, and brought in a new CEO to lead the company.
With so much going on at the company, it's crucial that investors understand Alibaba's most important focus areas in 2024.
Repositioning its e-commerce business for the future
Alibaba's crown jewel, the e-commerce segment led by Taobao and Tmall, has faced enormous challenges lately. The rise of PDD Holdings and Douying have made for an increasingly competitive business environment, and Alibaba's response to this challenge has been slow, resulting in sluggish results. The China commerce segment saw revenue decline 1% in fiscal 2023 (ended March 31, 2023). By contrast, Pinduoduo's revenue grew 51% over the same period, a clear signal that Alibaba needs drastic changes to get back on track. And that's precisely what its management team, led by new CEO Eddie Wu, is focusing on.
One central area of change is Wu's commitment to putting users first to build a thriving e-commerce ecosystem. This is a significant pivot from the past where Alibaba's primary focus was on making it easy for merchants to do business on its platform. To this end, the company will focus on certain initiatives, including bringing low prices to consumers, making Taobao a universal and all-inclusive app, and using AI to drive innovation.
While this shift in priorities is still in its early days, leadership is taking this process seriously. For example, Wu is taking direct control of the e-commerce business, in addition to his CEO roles for the overall company and cloud unit.
All eyes are on Alibaba's e-commerce performance in 2024, especially as this is Wu's first full year leading the company.
A turnaround plan for the cloud computing business
Alibaba was an early mover in the cloud migration trend, leveraging its vast network of businesses and customers to build its cloud computing business. Thanks to its massive investments over the years, Alibaba Cloud has become the leading cloud infrastructure player in China with a 34% market share.
Lately, however, it has faced challenges sustaining its growth. For instance, the cloud business delivered disappointing 4% revenue growth in fiscal 2023. While it's hard to pinpoint specific reasons, the lack of management bandwidth could be a key reason behind the weakness.
To turn around that business, Alibaba has brought in a separate management team and board of directors, giving the unit more independence to chart its own path. The company had planned a complete spin-off of the cloud business unit but later changed course under Wu's direction. According to the company, a full spin-off of the cloud business might not create the intended value for shareholders amid the uncertainty around its prospects due to U.S. restrictions on the export of advanced computing chips to China.
While investors can debate the pros and cons of the change to Alibaba Cloud's strategic direction, the company must prepare itself to leverage massive trends such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things to remain at the head of the industry.
Unlocking value for shareholders
Alibaba has been buying back its shares in huge quantities over the last few years. It has spent $4.8 billion on share repurchases in the first half of the current fiscal year, in addition to the $20.6 billion it spent in the previous two years.
The tech giant will likely continue buying back stock in 2024, and it initiated an annual dividend for fiscal 2023, distributing about $2.5 billion to shareholders.
While a company as large as Alibaba will require enormous resources to turn around its e-commerce and cloud computing businesses long term, it's generating substantial free cash flow ($30 billion in the past 12 months) to fund these efforts. That also puts it in an excellent position to keep returning capital to shareholders going forward.
For investors, that means getting paid while waiting for management to deliver on its new vision for the company.
