Alibaba expands share buy-back to a record US$25 billion amid stock price slump

$Alibaba (BABA.US)$ the Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant, upsized its share buy-back programme from US$15 billion to US$25 billion on Tuesday amid a plunge in its stock price. It is the largest buy-back in the tech giant’s history.
The programme will run for two years through March 2024, the company said in a statement. Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, had announced a US$10 billion share buy-back plan in December 2020 and expanded it to US$15 billion in August last year.
Alibaba said that as of March 18 it has spent about US$9.2 billion on its buy-back plans. However, until now they have not stopped its share price from falling. Before the buy-back plan was announced on Tuesday, the stock was trading at about one-third of its peak in October 2020.