Alibaba Shares Drop 11% after Warning Slow Growth

Alibaba shares listed in Hong Kong dropped more than 10% after the technology behemoth missed revenue and earnings expectations for the September quarter, as slowing economic growth in China weighed on results.The company reported revenue of 200.69 billion yuan ($31.4 billion), less than the 204.93 billion yuan estimated but still a 29% year-on-year rise. The company reported earnings per share of 11.20 yuan, less than an estimate of 12.36 yuan, and a 38% year-on-year decline

Alibaba sales grew 29% last quarter from a year ago to $31.1 billion. Wall Street was expecting revenue of $32.1 billion. Earnings per share fell 38% from a year ago and were below expectations. The company said that sales for its current fiscal year should rise between 20% and 23% from a year ago. Analysts were predicting growth of nearly 28%.Alibaba and fellow Chinese tech giants Tencent (TCEHY), Baidu (BIDU) and TikTok owner ByteDance have been subject to increased regulatory scrutiny from the Chinese government in the past year.

Beijing yanked the IPO for Alibaba Ant Group affiliate, which owns payment app giant Alipay. In the year that followed, the Chinese government’s regulatory might has changed industries ranging from tech and finance to gaming, entertainment and private education.In April, regulators slapped a record $2.8 billion fine on, accusing it of behaving like a monopoly.

Meituan, Tencent, Pinduoduo (PDD), and other tech firms have also been investigated or fined over alleged anti-competitive behavior.In its earnings release on Thursday,cited a “regulatory environment that affect Alibaba business operations” and “privacy and data protection regulations and concerns” as some of the uncertainties it was facing.