Quick Take — Alibaba reports continued profit compression due to investments in artificial intelligence and instant retail (Quick e-commerce)

Alibaba reported a 3 per cent increase in revenue for the quarter ending 31 March, which fell short of expectations due to a slowdown in the company’s international e-commerce business (Total revenue stood at 243.38 billion yuan for the quarter, or €30.6 billion)

Cloud Intelligence revenues increased by 38%, with artificial intelligence products now accounting for 30% of external cloud revenues. Earlier this year, the company separated its artificial intelligence business from its cloud computing division.

Alibaba said adjusted EBITDA fell 84 per cent due to spending on technology and fast-track commerce, which involves deliveries within 60 minutes. Reuters

There has long been an e-commerce and delivery war going on in China, which, like in the US, has the same customers.

Jensen Huang (Nvidia) on China and the US

We are witnessing in real time the biggest shift in global economic power. While America debates tariffs, summons its own Fed Chairman to a hearing and spends $380 billion on AI infrastructure with no measurable returns…China has just implemented the most aggressive industrial strategy since the Marshall Plan…
China is building the future. America, unfortunately, seems to be merely discussing it.

Quick Take — US concludes Alibaba and BYD have ties to Chinese military: trade acquires additional geopolitical role

The companies are among those that the Pentagon believes may pose a threat to US national security (Financial Times)

… The decision to include Alibaba on what is formally known as the 1260H list comes three months after the FT reported that US intelligence agencies believed the e-commerce giant posed a threat to national security. The Pentagon will also add BYD, the world’s largest electric car manufacturer, and Baidu, the search engine, to the 1260H list established by Congress. Although trade tensions between the US and China have eased since Trump and Xi met in South Korea in October, the addition of major Chinese groups to the list will trigger new tensions ahead of their April summit…

Read about it : Where the world is going: with Amazon, Alibaba, Shein and Temu, trade takes on a geopolitical aspect

Quick Take — France takes legal action against AliExpress and Joom over child sex dolls

Alibaba, Joom and Shein were recently investigated by the French authorities for selling dolls. Other e-commerce platforms, including Temu, Wish and eBay, are also under investigation for selling illicit products on their marketplaces. In some cases, these included weapons such as machetes and knuckles, as well as pornographic material accessible to minors…

France’s resistance against Shein and similar platforms intensified this month following complaints to law enforcement agencies that dolls and other illegal products were being sold on some platforms. The reports coincided with the opening of Shein ‘s first permanent French shop in a Paris department store.

The opening of the BHV shop drew crowds of shoppers and protesters, while French retail associations lashed out at what they saw as unfair competition from companies circumventing French and European regulations…

Meanwhile, the EU said on Wednesday it was investigating Shein‘s potential sale of illegal products, particularly sex dolls and weapons, under the Digital Services Act, which regulates online content.

Below: gendarmerie in front of the BHV