Alibaba.com Ltd, China's biggest e-commerce firm, will focus more on domestic business in the next few years because of a weak global economy and slowing growth in Chinese exports, Chairman Jack Ma said, Reuters reported.
The company, founded in 1999, has enjoyed spectacular growth by serving tens of thousands of small and medium-sized exporters and importers in China with its online business-to-business site.
But Ma told reporters on Saturday that he foresaw a "winter" period for Chinese e-commerce involving foreign trade, so Alibaba would rely increasingly on growth of the domestic economy.
"Domestic trade is growing very fast, while imports and exports have started to decline," Ma said. "We're prepared for the winter. We've reserved a lot of cash."
Ma added that slowing export growth would have only a limited impact on Alibaba, because its clients were mainly small firms with design abilities and unique products, while manufacturers in trouble were mostly in labour- and resource-intensive industries.
He did not elaborate on how much Alibaba's foreign trade-related business might slow. Annual growth in China's exports tumbled to 17.6 percent in June from 28.1 percent in May; some analysts think it could hit the low single digits next year.
China's purchasing managers' index, an indicator of the health of the manufacturing sector, fell to 48.4 percent in July, the lowest since it was launched in January 2005, from 52 percent in June, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said on Friday. A reading below 50 indicates contraction, while one above 50 suggests expansion.
Ma also said any potential changes to the ownership of Yahoo! Inc's 39 percent stake in Alibaba's parent, Alibaba Group, would not change the managerial independence or strategy of Alibaba.com.
"We're well prepared. We've got a lot of interest from the world for Alibaba," Ma said. "We'll keep independent. No matter what happens, we'll do it our own way."
Ma declined to comment directly on Chinese media reports speculating that Alibaba Group might cooperate with institutional investors to buy the stake, if Yahoo! sought to spin off its Asian assets.
Alibaba.com reported a net profit of 300.7 million yuan ($44 million) for the three months ended in March, up from 142.1 million yuan a year earlier. ($1 = 6.84 yuan)