Alibaba: freeze executive compensation

Last night, Alibaba Network Ltd., China's largest B2B e-commerce company, announced its annual report for 2008. Data shows that as of December 31, 2008, the company's total operating income was 3.001 billion yuan, an increase of 2007 from 39%; the actual net profit reached 1.205 billion yuan, an increase of 2007 from 95%.

Alibaba believes that 2009 is the year of investment and will invest heavily in customers, technical infrastructure, new product development, and employees. However, it will also save money through different channels to control operating costs, one of the measures to control costs is to freeze the salaries of vice president or higher-level senior management personnel. Alibaba said that at this time, we should pay more attention to the compensation of ordinary employees who constantly promote business development. Meanwhile, Alibaba announced the company's travel expenses cut by at least 10%.

Alibaba said the company's profit surge benefited from the "stimulus" of 38.1 million members and a substantial increase in revenue in the Chinese trading market.

According to the annual report, in 2008, Alibaba international and domestic trading markets increased by 2007 registered users and 10.5 million online stores compared with in 1.7 million. Among them, the number of members from the international trading market increased by 3.5 million a year, an annual growth of 80%, the highest ever.

Alibaba pointed out that, in the global economic downturn, enterprises in various regions, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, prefer e-commerce platforms to reduce operating costs and improve efficiency.

At the same time, the number of buyers and sellers in the transaction market continued to grow. The total number of paid members in the two Alibaba transaction markets increased by more than 0.126 million, to 0.432 million, an increase of 41% from last year, beyond the previous annual growth of paid members.

In addition, due to the strong growth of Internet users in China and the sustained growth of the Chinese economy, the proportion of Alibaba's Chinese transaction market in 2008 to 2007 of total revenue has increased from 28% in 36%.

Data shows that as of December 31, 2008, Alibaba's Chinese trading market had 372867 "TrustPass" members, a net increase of 2007 compared with 106858, an increase of 40%. The operating income of the entire Chinese trading market was 1.094 billion yuan, it increased by 2007 compared with 78%.

"Alibaba is satisfied with the achievements in 2008," said Wei Zhe, CEO of Alibaba. In particular, in the fourth quarter of last year, more and more small and medium-sized enterprises are investing in e-commerce ." Wei Zhe further analyzed the stable performance of the company, thanks to the preparation of the global financial crisis, and plans and actions to help customers "winter ".

It is understood that in November 2008, Alibaba launched "China supplier export channel" and upgraded the original "China supplier" product to "global Bao ", the growth of "Chinese supplier" members in the fourth quarter of last year reached a record high, reaching 12192.

In Wei Zhe's view, the current global financial crisis is an excellent opportunity for Alibaba. "This crisis has made small and medium-sized enterprise customers choose to invest in e-commerce, making our services more market-leading ." Wei Zhe said, "we will take this opportunity to provide more resources. 2009 will be a year for Alibaba's investment and expansion, and is committed to creating the world's largest online buyer and seller community ."