Alibaba Group, China’s largest e-commerce company, has pledged to donate 100 billion yuan (about 18 trillion won) by 2025. This is to actively respond to the distribution-oriented ‘common wealth’ state policy emphasized by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
According to the Zhejiang Daily on the 2nd, Alibaba announced this plan on the same day that it was promoting the ‘Common Wealth 10 Action’. That’s equivalent to Alibaba’s half a year’s worth of net profit. This donation is one of the largest in the recent succession of big tech (large information technology companies) donations in China.
Of the donations, 20 billion yuan will be put into the ‘Joint Floating Development Fund’. It will be used to help the development of Zhejiang Province, which the Chinese authorities have designated as a joint floating demonstration zone. The remaining amount will be used to support small and medium-sized businesses and to strengthen insurance for delivery drivers. It is also used for nurturing scientific talent and bridging the digital divide.
On the 17th of last month, the leadership of the Communist Party of China announced that common wealth was the state policy. The goal of President Xi is to resolve inequality in China. While there is an interpretation that they are trying to capture public sentiment to achieve a third consecutive term, major Chinese companies such as Big Tech are keeping pace with the authorities. Alibaba’s announcement of donations also stemmed from this background.
Alibaba’s donations are unique among other big tech companies. Except for Tencent, China’s largest internet company, which decided to donate 100 billion yuan at the end of last month, doubling its existing donations. Pinduoduo, a large e-commerce company, said it would donate 10 billion yuan to create a fund dedicated to agriculture science and technology.
Analysts say that there are restrictions by the Chinese authorities behind Alibaba’s large-scale donations. As Chinese regulators continued to beat Alibaba, they had no choice but to lay flat through donations.
In April, China fined Alibaba 18 billion yuan for antitrust violations. At the time, the fine was the largest ever in China for antitrust violations. Last month, Chinese authorities also investigated the problem of poor working conditions for the delivery driver Arama, a food delivery app owned by Alibaba.
Reporter Semin Heo [email protected]
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