---
title: "Alibaba Pledges $15.5 Billion to ‘Common Prosperity’ Drive"
description: "Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. pledged 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) over five years toward Xi Jinping’s “common prosperity” vision, becoming the latest tech giant to bankroll China’s broad aim to share the wealth."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Business Maverick"
author: "Bloomberg"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/bloomberg/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-09-03-alibaba-pledges-15-5-billion-to-common-prosperity-drive/"
published: "2021-09-03T05:25:00"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 399
---

# Alibaba Pledges $15.5 Billion to ‘Common Prosperity’ Drive

> Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. pledged 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) over five years toward Xi Jinping’s “common prosperity” vision, becoming the latest tech giant to bankroll China’s broad aim to share the wealth.

By Bloomberg · Published 3 September 2021, 07:25 SAST

## Content

China’s second-largest company will spread the money between 10 initiatives encompassing technology investment and support for small companies, the government-backed Zhejiang Daily reported Thursday. An Alibaba spokesperson confirmed the report, without elaborating. The company’s shares were little changed in New York trading.

Alibaba joins a growing number of its largest peers in promising to give back after accumulating vast wealth during a decade-long mobile internet boom. Pinduoduo Inc., the fast-rising online commerce giant now challenging Alibaba in the countryside, pledged its next $1.5 billion in profit to farmers’ welfare. Tencent Holdings Ltd., China’s most valuable company, said last month it will [double](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-19/tencent-doubles-social-aid-to-15-billion-as-scrutiny-grows) the amount of money it’s allocating for social responsibility programs to about $15 billion.

They’re joined by a growing number of tech billionaires, from PDD’s Colin Huang to ByteDance Ltd.’s Zhang Yiming and Xiaomi Corp.’s Lei Jun, in donating vast sums to a plethora of causes. The largesse coincides with a period of intensified scrutiny over the growing power and influence of China’s largest corporations from Tencent to Alibaba, which received a $2.8 billion fine for allegedly abusing its market dominance.

[Read more: Chinese Firms Rush to Embrace Xi’s ‘Common Prosperity’ Slogan](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-01/chinese-firms-rush-to-embrace-xi-s-common-prosperity-slogan)

> ### What Bloomberg Intelligence Says
>
> Alibaba’s plan to commit 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) to help finance mainland China’s push for “common prosperity” points to greater social accountability, is easily affordable and could help resolve regulatory concerns; it may look dramatic, but our underlying view on sales and earnings is unaffected. The amount, to be deployed through 2025, is just 31% of Alibaba’s current cash balance and compares with its trailing 12-month free cash flow of $24 billion. The agreement also puts Alibaba more on parity with Tencent, which had stepped up earlier.
>
> - Catherine Lim and Tiffany Tam, analysts
>
> Click here for the research.

| Month | Source | Amount Donated |
| --- | --- | --- |
| September | Alibaba | About $15.5 billion toward “common prosperity” programs |
| August | Colin Huang, Pinduoduo | Company pledges $1.5 billion in profit to help agriculture development;In March, Huang’s foundation donated $100 million to Zhejiang University;In July 2020, Huang and Pinduoduo’s founding team transferred shares worth $2.4 billion to a charitable trust |
| July | Lei Jun, Xiaomi | $2.2 billion in shares |
| June | Zhang Yiming, ByteDance | $77.3 million of personal wealth |
| June | Wang Xing, Meituan | $2.3 billion in shares |
| April | Pony Ma, Tencent | About $7.5 billion of company money set aside (In August, Tencent doubled the pledged amount to roughly $15 billion) |