, Columnist
Alibaba Has a Much Bigger Problem Than the Tech Crackdown
Common prosperity and regulatory enforcement collide with even stronger headwinds: There are no new customers left.
No longer easy pickins.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s slowest quarter on record comes amid a prolonged crackdown on China’s major technology companies. It’s easy to conflate the two.
But the increased regulatory burden is overshadowed by even harsher problems. Chief among them: peak customer. It’s a reminder that the country’s burgeoning middle class is no longer easy pickings for high-flying companies with ubiquitous platforms.