What's going on?

Alibaba reported better-than-expected results on Thursday.

What does this mean?

Here�s the good thing about Alibaba: it�s so big that at least one part of its business is bound to flourish come rain, shine, or government-mandated lockdown. This time, it was Taocaicai that came into its own, with the value of transactions on the fresh food platform booming more than 200% last quarter from the same time last year. And even though the rest of Alibaba�s ecommerce segment had a slow April and May, it recovered in June thanks in part to China�s annual shopping festival. The company�s cloud computing business made the best of a tough few months too, posting a 10% uptick in sales even as the government cracked down on multiple online industries. So while Alibaba�s revenue did fall marginally, investors knew it could�ve been much worse, and they sent its US-listed stock up 6%.

Why should I care?

Zooming in: Change of plan.
This was Alibaba�s first drop in revenue on record, but analysts don�t necessarily think it�ll become a habit. For one thing, Alibaba has recently promised to invest more in areas that are good for long-term growth. And for another, the Chinese government has realized it�ll need to let up on its anti-tech crusade and boost economic support if it wants to achieve its increasingly unrealistic growth targets.

The bigger picture: SoftBank runs for the hills.
The US has threatened to delist a host of Chinese companies from its stock market after they failed to stick to its disclosure rules. And it�s just added Alibaba to the line-up, which puts the company in a tight spot: a delisting would force some funds to sell its stock, which would send its share price tumbling. SoftBank doesn�t want to hang around to see that happen: the investment giant has reportedly started selling �forward contracts� that could see it dramatically reduce its stake in Alibaba over the next few years.