Alibaba announces $6 bn share buyback but misses EPS forecast

The Chinese company says the repurchase will replace its existing buyback program

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Thursday that it would buy back shares worth up to $6 billion over two years, as it beat first-quarter revenue forecasts but missed income estimates.

The Chinese company, which wants to go beyond e-commerce and is targeting new lines in cloud computing, big data, entertainment and offline retail, says the repurchase will replace its existing buyback program.

Alibaba said strength in the Chinese e-commerce market helped its total revenue rise to 38.6 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) in the quarter to the end of March, versus an average forecast of 36 billion yuan according to Thomson Reuters.

But Alibaba's adjusted EPS (earnings per share) was 4.35 yuan ($0.63), versus estimates of 4.48 yuan.

Alibaba has ramped up expansion outside of China and consolidated its Southeast Asian retail site Lazada, which it acquired last year. This included integrating the Singapore-based platform's payment system, Hello Pay, with Alibaba's own payment affiliate, Alipay.

It has taken steps to expand its U.S. merchant base over the past quarter and said it plans to host an event next month, which 1,000 USbusinesses are expected to attend. This has pushed Jack Ma to create one million jobs in the country. 

Revenue from Alibaba's core e-commerce business grew by 47 percent to 31.6 billion yuan in the quarter, up from the previous quarter's growth rate of 45 percent.

Its digital media and entertainment business saw an increase in revenue of 234 percent to 3.9 billion yuan, reflecting the dividends from the consolidation of Youku Tudou, which Alibaba acquired for $3.5 billion in October.