Alibaba stock plunge the most since its debut in Hong Kong

Shares in Alibaba plummeted in Hong Kong after the E commerce giant warned of slower growth this year amid China’s weakening economy and Beijing’s ongoing tech support. Alibaba dropped 10.3% Friday in Hong Kong, the steepest decline since its debut in November 2019. That drop has wiped out 314 billion Hong Kong dollars in market value for the company.

The plunge dragged on Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index, which tumbled nearly 2%. On Thursday, Alibaba’s New York listed shares slide 11%, after it reported disappointing sales and earnings for the third quarter and warned that results for this year will be below estimate. Alibaba's sales grew 29% last quarter from a year ago, to $31.1 billion. Wall Street was expecting a revenue of $32.1 billion. Earnings per share fell 38% from a year ago and were below expectations. Alibaba cited a "regulatory environment that affect Alibaba's business operations" and "privacy and data protection regulations and concerns" as some of the uncertainties it was facing.

- In April, regulators slapped a record of $2.8 billion fine on Alibaba, accusing it behaving like a monopoly.

- Last November, Beijing yanked the IPO for Alibaba's 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.